Culture

Drag Race community fires back at The Tamron Hall Show for Sherry Pie appearance

By Sam Damshenas

16th February 2021

Tamron Hall has come under fire for her upcoming interview with Sherry Pie.

Last year, Sherry – birth name Joey Gugliemelli – was disqualified from RuPaul’s Drag Race season 12 following allegations from five aspiring actors that the star had catfished them.

Sherry posed as a fake casting director called Alison Mossey from HBO, and tricked several men into performing sexual acts on camera for high-profile acting opportunities, such as a film called Bulk, that never came to fruition.

In a statement, Sherry apologised for causing “such trauma and pain” and as a result, she was heavily edited out of Drag Race and completely disowned by the franchise.

Following a year of silence, it was confirmed that Sherry will discuss her crimes on the next episode of The Tamron Hall show, which airs Tuesday (16 February).

“On the next Tamron Hall, one of the breakout stars of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Sherry Pie, booted from the show after being hit with lewd accusations of catfishing men. For the first time, Sherry Pie comes clean,” the host said in a promotional clip.

The announcement was met with condemnation from the Drag Race community, as well as former competitors. Jackie Cox, who made it to the top five of season 12 with Sherry, publicly called for Tamron Hall to reconsider the interview.

The star criticised the Emmy Award-winning host and the producers for allowing Sherry to “tell their side of the story without first speaking with the victims of her abuses and allowing them to weigh in on their own trauma”.

“Through personal conversations I have had with these victims, it is clear that the abuses Sherry perpetrated go far beyond what is commonly referred to as “cat fishing,” explained Jackie, before warning followers of her ‘triggering’ next tweet.

“Sherry manipulated these men into filming live sexual acts, putting their bodies in physical danger by coercing them to use steroids, and financially controlled them by encouraging these men to turn down paying jobs in lieu of the fake film project that Sherry created.

“Being a performer and public persona is not a right, it is a privilege. Sherry relinquished this privilege by their actions. Giving Sherry a spotlight without the forethought to reach out to victims is irresponsible, immoral, & wrong. I stand with the victims of Sherry’s actions.”

Ben Shimkus – who wrote the post exposing Sherry’s various counts of sexual misconduct – spoke with producers at The Tamron Hall Show on behalf of himself and 20 other victims. Despite calling for the interview to not go ahead, he confirmed that “they’re going to air it despite all of our requests.” 

He later tweeted: “The [Tamron Hall Show] segment today is a call to action. Future survivors and truth tellers are watching. They deserve to know that our experience with re-platforming SP is the exception to how we will treat survivors. We must learn from this.”

David Mack, a journalist who wrote about Sherry and the accusations, said one of the victims contacted him “in distress as it appears there’s been no effort” on The Tamron Hall Show’s behalf to speak with them.

Canada’s Drag Race star Ilona Verley called out fellow franchise alum who still follow Sherry on social media, saying it’s “honestly pretty ICK”.

“As someone who has survived sexual abuse I can first hand say how much those experiences alter you as a person, and for her to receive any sort of support or recognition from main stream media is WRONG,” she told her followers.

“For her to use a media opportunity like this to stage a comeback is so scummy. She needs to understand it’s not possible to come back from something as horrid as she did and if she actually felt bad she wouldn’t have taken this opportunity to further traumatize her victims.”

 

On her Instagram page, Sherry said she’s spent the last year “learning to own my many unpardonable mistakes.”

“I’ll be sharing my story, reflecting on my shameful actions, and working towards making amends live on THE TAMRON HALL SHOW tomorrow, 10am EST,” she wrote.