On February 24, Eric Poff, who performs under the pseudonym Dakota Payne, filed a civil lawsuit against Darius Jeremy (“DJ”) Pierce, better known as Shangela as reported by Rolling Stone.
Poff says Pierce sexually assaulted him in October 2017 while they were filming the movie Hurricane Bianca 2.
While working on the film as a production assistant, Poff claimed he went drinking with Pierce in New York while creating the film. Poff believes his drink was spiked as he remembered blacking out. According to Poff he woke up in hotel room in a “semi-concious” state while an unknown man and Pierce sexually assaulted him.
Poff was then reportedly sent money by Pierce via PayPal after the alleged assault, according to Poff's complaint.
Pierce responded to the allegations on February 25 with an Instagram post maintaining his innocence.
“Being falsely accused in the most heinous ways is very difficult to endure. I’m advised to stay silent, and I’m doing my best to continue on without engaging in a back-and-forth with dishonest people seeking money or a moment. ‘It’s not worth it,’ I tell myself,” he wrote.
“Even though NONE of these false claims have ever prevailed against me… My career, my character and even my family have suffered.”
“Their goal is to characterize a successful Black, gay drag queen as a threat. But my goal is to never let evil win. I will continue to fight back with the truth, and with time, I know the truth will prevail,” Pierce added.
Pierce was previously accused of rape in 2020 after Daniel McGarrigle, former production assistant on HBO’s “We’re Here” came forward with similar claims. However, the case was dismissed “with prejudice” and could not be re-filed.
At least five more people have accused the former RuPaul’s Drag Race queen of sexual assault as reported in a 2024 exposé by Rolling Stone. According to the report, all these incidents took place between
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