A disturbing rape allegation has been levied against HBO’s We’re Here star Shangela, with the actor’s former driver on the show claiming he was sexually assaulted despite his screams of “no.”
The bombshell accusation emerged Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by Daniel McGarrigle in Los Angeles Superior Court against Buckingham Television and Shangela, whose real name is Darius Jeremy (DJ) Pierce.
The lawsuit, obtained by The Daily Beast, alleges that McGarrigle drunkenly fell asleep in Pierce’s Louisiana hotel room after partying together at a Mexican restaurant on Feb. 25 2020. McGarrigle says Pierce pushed him to get drunk against his wishes. He was fully clothed when he passed out, he said, but was quickly awakened to his pants being pulled down and Pierce trying to rape him without a condom on.
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McGarrigle, 39, claimed in the suit that he tried to fight off Pierce, 42, but couldn’t. He alleges that Pierce exclaimed, “I know you want it, and you’re going to take it.”
“I tried to fight him off, but I was weak and he was stronger than me, and he held me down,” McGarrigle told the Los Angeles Times.
McGarrigle said he didn’t report the sexual assault to authorities or his bosses because he feared losing his job. Among his duties listed in the suit was to serve “as an assistant and driver for Pierce.”
Pierce, who also starred on RuPaul’s Drag Race, vehemently denied the allegations in a statement to the Times on Wednesday. He said he “can’t begin to explain how hurt and disgusted I am by these totally untrue allegations.”
“They are personally offensive and perpetuate damaging stereotypes that are harmful not only to me but also to my entire community,” Pierce said. “I will fight this entirely meritless lawsuit and not allow it to destroy me and those I love, or harm the causes we all stand for.”
Pierce said a previous probe into the incident found the allegations were “completely without merit.” He called McGarrigle “embittered” and called his suit “nothing but an attempt to shake down both me and a well-regarded television company.”
In a statement, Buckingham TV also cited an internal probe that “concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support” McGarrigle’s allegations.
The suit says McGarrigle is seeking damages for “past and future medical expenses, past and future lost earnings and earning capacity, pain, suffering, emotional distress, mental anguish, and embarrassment.”
McGarrigle alleged that he left the We’re Here crew party because Pierce asked for help packing for his flight the next morning. McGarrigle, who was drunk off mixed drinks, said he got sick on the car ride and threw up in Pierce’s hotel room, so the actor invited him to stay the night.
That’s when things went awry, McGarrigle claimed. He said he was awakened by a “cold liquid being poured down the side of his face,” which he alleged he later discovered was a type of poppers—a chemical inhalant that’s sometimes used during sex to relax muscles and create a euphoric head rush.
McGarrigle said the liquid made him feel weak, disoriented and overcome by fear. Soon after, he alleges that he was raped.
McGarrigle said he tried to continue on with his work like nothing happened after the alleged assault, but things had changed. Until he resigned in July 2021, McGarrigle claimed that Pierce repeatedly asked him out for drinks and commented about his looks. He said Pierce would be physical, too, claiming he’d touch his butt and thighs at work.
McGarrigle’s brother, Ryan, was also a production assistant on We’re Here. He said he recalled his brother coming back to the hotel room they shared the morning after the alleged rape and it appeared he’d been crying.
“He definitely was upset and he was crying and it was concerning,” Ryan told the Times.
McGarrigle said he reported the rape to production staff but nothing was done after the internal probe found no wrongdoing by Pierce, fellow staffers told the Times.
