People Are Criticising A Talk Show For Platforming Disgraced ‘Drag Race’ Contestant Sherry Pie
"I first want to say, there are no allegations. I admit to my wrongdoings and, just beyond wrongdoings, horrible behaviour."
Almost a year after Sherry Pie was disqualified from Drag Race amid predatory catfishing allegations made by a number of men, Joey Gugliemelli has returned to TV out of drag to again apologise for his actions.
Gugliemelli instantly owned up to his actions on the Tamron Hall show earlier this morning, before getting stuck into the actual interview.
“I first want to say, there are no allegations,” Gugliemelli started. “I admit to my wrongdoings and, just beyond wrongdoings, horrible behaviour. And I don’t know if after I do this interview if more will come forward. I’m here to just apologise and I want to make that very clear.”
“I understand now in lieu of this year how much pain I’ve caused in some of these people,” the disgraced former Drag Race contestant continued. “I just want to let the victims know and everyone else know that I am so sorry and I can’t even begin to imagine the pain and the trauma that I have caused.”
Credit: Tamron Hall
During Season 12 of Drag Race, Sherry Pie was disqualified and edited out of the show after a BuzzFeed News investigation revealed that Joey Gugliemelli had tricked a number of men into sending him degrading “audition tapes” for roles that didn’t exist. Posing as a casting director named Allison Mossie, Gugliemelli even managed to convince one actor to masturbate on camera.
At the time, Gugliemelli shared an apology on Facebook just before the exposé was published, claiming that he was “horribly embarrassed and disgusted” over his past actions. But the damage had been done, and Drag Race producers quickly edited as much Sherry Pie from the show as possible.
A year on from the revelation, Tamron Hall gave Joey Gugliemelli the opportunity to discuss his wrongdoings, which was heavily criticised by victims of Sherry Pie, former Drag Race contestants like Jackie Cox, and the general public, for giving the admitted predator a platform.
“The conversation should centre around survivors, not around our perpetrators,” Ben Shimkus, one of the men affected by Sherry Pie’s catfishing tweeted. “We deplatform Matt Lauer, Harvey Weinstein, and Marilyn Manson because we recognise their capacity for violence.”
“Our trauma shouldn’t be whittled away to internet clickbait. We deserve better than this.”
I am publicly calling on @TamronHallShow to reconsider giving Sherry Pie access to the platform of national television 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. (1/4)
— Jackie Cox (@JackieCoxNYC) February 15, 2021
@TamronHallShow is platforming Sherry Pie because violence against queer people is too often normalized.
— Ben Shimkus (@BenShimkus) February 15, 2021
Just so we are all clear on this, I spoke with producers at @TamronHallShow and told them that I and the 20 victims that I spoke to today DO NOT want them to air a segment with Sherry Pie. They're going to air it despite the all of our requests.
— Ben Shimkus (@BenShimkus) February 15, 2021
Why is miss girl giving Sherry Pie a platform??? ??? pic.twitter.com/0ljXuoVvKc
— Rodrigo? (@limegreenroger) February 15, 2021
Prior to the interview, Hall addressed the “firestorm on social media” and justified having Gugliemelli on the show by claiming it wasn’t “giving away” her platform, but rather was just an interview.
“It’s not giving away your platform. It’s called an interview. And people who do bad things are interviewed. R. Kelly comes to mind,” Hall said.
“We believe the men who’ve gone on record about Sherry Pie. We believe in being fair and we don’t give free passes. I don’t give free passes,” Hall continued. “This interview is what we say everyday on the show: Let’s talk about it. And that’s what we’re gonna do.”
Tamron Hall explains why she decided to interview disqualified ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ contestant Sherry Pie amid backlash that she was giving a platform to an admitted sexual predator. https://t.co/RLvG0CUSdb
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) February 16, 2021
As the interview continued, Joey Gugliemelli didn’t really reveal much else. While the former Drag Race constestant shared that he had been going to therapy and had reached out to three of his victims, Gugliemelli struggled to explain what he had been doing to really make it up to his victims and the LGBTQI+ community.
Joey Gugliemelli also used the opportunity to explain that his actions as Allison Mossie weren’t for sexual gratification, but rather around the need for control.
“It was about control… most of these things ended up happening because of my immense fear of losing these people,” Gugliemelli said. “[I have] Borderline Personality Disorder… there’s an immense amount of fear that comes along with having BPD.”
“But I want to make this clear: I don’t blame my mental illness for anything that I’ve done. These are my own actions.”
You can watch Sherry Pie’s full Tamron Hall interview below: