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The RuPaul’s Drag Race a contestant who was disqualified from the show for a predatory cat fishing program apologized in a live interview on the Tamron Room show Tuesday.
Joey Gugliemelli, better known as Sherry Pie, has not denied the claims of his victims, whose talk show host said there were now “up to a dozen”.
“First I want to say that there are no allegations,” Gugliemelli said in the interview. “I confess my wrongdoing and, just beyond the wrongdoing, horrible behavior.”
According to five men who spoke to BuzzFeed News in March 2020, Gugliemelli claimed to be a casting agent by the name of Allison Mossie in order to trick budding actors into sending them sexually degrading ‘audition videos’ of them themselves, including one in which a victim masturbated in front of the camera. .
Just before the story was published, Gugliemelli apologized for his actions in a Facebook post. The next day, VH1 announced that he had been disqualified from Drag race12th season.
In Tuesday’s interview, Gugliemelli again apologized, saying, “I can’t even begin to imagine the pain and trauma I have caused.” He said he contacted and spoke to three of his victims, noting that one of them asked not to be contacted again.
He said he had seen several therapists over the past year. He was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, but said, “I don’t blame my mental illness for anything I’ve done,” according to TVLine.
In announcing the interview, Tamron Hall was widely criticized for having Gugliemelli on the show, with many denouncing the host for giving him a platform to potentially smooth out his image.
One of the victims, Ben shimkus, tweeted that he spoke to the producers of Hall’s show: “I … told them that I and the 20 victims I spoke to today DO NOT want them to air a segment with Sherry Pie “, but they had decided to go ahead with it anyway.
Jackie Cox, another Drag race season 12 contestant, tweeted that the Tamron Room The show is expected to “reconsider giving Sherry Pie access to the national television platform to tell her side of the story without first talking to victims of her abuse and allowing them to influence their lives. own trauma. “
“Being an artist and a public figure is not a right, it’s a privilege,” Cox tweeted. “Sherry waived this privilege by their actions. Giving Sherry a spotlight without the foresight to reach victims is irresponsible, immoral and false. I’m with the victims of Sherry’s actions.
Hall addressed the criticism ahead of Gugliemelli’s interview, saying the interview was not an effort to absolve him of his wrongdoing.
“It’s not about giving your rig – it’s called an interview, and people who do bad things are interviewed. R. Kelly comes to mind, ”Hall said.
Hall also added that the interview would be broadcast live and that Gugliemelli would not be allowed to use it as an opportunity to hook up anything he might enjoy, such as a book or a podcast.
“We believe the men who have spoken of Sherry Pie,” Hall said. “We believe in being fair and we don’t give away free passes.”
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