RuPaul’s Drag Race star Sherry Pie is disqualified from the competition after catfishing allegations

RuPaul’s Drag Race has disqualified contestant Sherry Pie after she was accused of catfishing multiple men.

The reality competition dropped Sherry – real name Joey Gugliemelli – from season 12 just hours after the 28-year-old released a statement apologizing for past actions.

Sherry was accused by five men of posing as a casting director who promised them theater roles and requested audition tapes, sometimes asking them to record themselves doing awkward and degrading things.

Sherry was set to make her debut on the second half of the season 12 two-part premiere tonight. The series was taped last year.

VH1 production company World of Wonder said in a statement issued to EW: ‘In light of recent developments and Sherry Pie’s statement, Sherry Pie has been disqualified from RuPaul’s Drag Race,

‘Out of respect for the hard work of the other queens, VH1 will air the season as planned. Sherry will not appear in the grand finale scheduled to be filmed later this spring.’

On hearing the news, Ben Shimkus, who told his story in a Facebook post prompting other men to come forward with their experiences, told Buzzfeed: ‘For the victims, I hope this small victory aids in our healing process’.  

Five actors came forward, some who were his classmates at SUNY Cortland in New York, with others from a Nebraska theater company he worked at.

One of the actors coming forward was 26-year-old David Newman, who new Gugliemelli from Cortland and filmed scenes in 2015 while wearing a tanktop and shorts for a fake musical A Nightmare Before Christmas he was told Tim Burton was working on.

‘I just felt really stupid. I felt really dumb,’ Newman said. ‘Everyone does bad stuff but he never apologized.’

‘He has a national audience watching him now and people have to know what he did. He did it to a lot of people,’ Cortland added.

The allegations first surfaced in a Facebook post by another Cortland alum, Ben Shimkus, that went viral, where he claimed Gugliemelli posed as a fake casting director named Allison Mossie, who did not actually exist.

He was asked to take videos to audition for a character named Bulk, where he pretended to take steroids and enjoy smelling his armpits.

‘I remember feeling kind of embarrassed about what I was recording, Shimkus told Buzzfeed. ‘I would record entirely by myself and do it in my off-campus house exclusively when I was alone. It was very damaging to me at the time.’

Another actor, 23-year-old Josh Lillyman, started working with Sherry Pie at the Crane River Theater in Kearney, Nebraska.

Sherry Pie told him he was working for a casting agent in New York for an HBO show called Bulk, which lead to an audition process where Sherry Pie suggested he masturbated to get the character right. 

Shortly after the allegations surfaced, the drag queen issued an apology via Facebook.

‘This is Joey, I want to start by saying how sorry I am that I caused such trauma and pain and how horribly embarrassed and disgusted I am with myself. I know that the pain and hurt that I have caused will never go away and I know that what I did was wrong and truly cruel,’ Sherry Pie began. 

‘Until being on RuPaul’s Drag Race, I never really understood how much my mental health and taking care of things meant. I learned on that show how important “loving yourself” is and I don’t think I have ever loved myself,’ he added.

‘I have been seeking help and receiving treatment since coming back to NYC. I truly apologize to everyone I have hurt with my actions. I also want to say how sorry I am to my sisters of season 12 and honestly the whole network and production company. All I can do is change the behavior and that starts with me and doing that work,’ he concluded.