A contestant has been disqualified from RuPaul’s Drag Race after multiple claims that he “catfished” men.
Joey Gugliemelli, who uses the stage name Sherry Pie, is accused of pretending to be a casting director and convinced his victims to submit embarrassing audition tapes doing degrading and embarrassing things.
He is believed to have deceived former university classmates as well as actors he worked with at a theatre company, according to a BuzzFeed report .
In a statement on Facebook, Gugliemelli apologised for causing “much trauma and pain,” adding he is “horribly embarrassed and disgusted” with himself.
Gugliemelli appears in season 12 of RuPaul’s Drag Race but has now been disqualified, producers said.
The season premiered in America last month but Sherry Pie will not appear in the grand finale, which is set to be filmed in the coming weeks.
A statement on behalf of network VH1 and production company World Of Wonder said: “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.”
In his statement, Gugliemelli, 27, added: “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 behaviour and that starts with me and doing that work.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race season 12 streams on Netflix in the UK.
