An unpaid extra from a 2014 Mimi Imfurst music video has accused the RuPaul’s Drag Race queen of sexual misconduct. The extra, Jimmy Boone, made the initial allegations in a Facebook post last week.
Jimmy writes that the drag star fondled his genitals while he was on the set of Mimi’s video for the song Where the Party’s At. In the Facebook post, Jimmy emphasizes that Mimi grabbed him without his consent.
In Summer of 2014, My boyfriend, Joseph Cassise III, and I signed up to be unpaid extras in Mimi Imfurst’s (Braden’s) upcoming music video. Joey hadn’t even performed in Drag yet and the gig was for us to be guys in our bathing suits around the pool. We get to the house in Cherry Hill, NJ where the video is being filmed and wait for Mimi to be ready. Once Mimi was ready to go, she came out of the sliding glass door of the house, walked down the deck right to where Joey and I were standing. She looked me up and down and then proceeded to fondle my genitals through my bathing suit and held on until she was able to feel every part she wanted to. While she did this, she very flirtatiously asked “…and who are you?”
Jimmy’s Facebook post also goes into past instances of sexual harassment that Mimi has previously admitted to. In 2018, the queen came under fire after two contestants from Drag Wars, a popular Philadelphia drag competition that Mimi produces, came forward about Mimi’s unwanted and repeated sexual advances toward them via online messaging.
“(Mimi) was preying on my inexperience in the drag scene to satisfy his sexual fetish to the point that I felt personally obligated to go through with it because I had dreams of becoming a professional drag performer,” said one performer.
The Drag Race queen later apologized for the unwanted sexual messages. In a statement to Philidelphia Magazine, they said “deeply regretted” their “ongoing late-night sexual conversations that involved in-depth and often exaggerated cyber role play that although was welcomed by some has made others uncomfortable and used.”
While Mimi admitted to the sexual messaging in 2018, they are denying the new claims of harassment from Jimmy Boone. In a statement to Instinct, the drag queen said that the “allegations are 100% false.”
I admit that I have acted inappropriately in the past. It was embarrassing and hurtful to others; I owned up to my behavior and I have apologized. It is something that I think about every single day with remorse as I strive to be a better person. That being said I refuse to apologize for the lies from from two angry cis white male competitors, trying to weaponize petty drag drama and my polarizing drag character to co-opt some of the most important social justice movements of our lifetime for their own personal gain and vendetta.
What do you think of this new controversy? Sound off in the comments below.
Mimi I’m First, she is garbage. Since she picked up her competitor on drag race, No respect for her and btw never liked her. Filled with too much drama and always wants to be the center of attention.
That’s nice a drag queen grabbed some guys junk. Used to be an honor to get singled out for such attention. My have times have changed.
Sure it is now inappropriate, probably always has been, but it was also part of the act and therefore totally foreseeable by anyone that goes to the act, even if it was a video shoot. If such a thing is going to make one uncomfortable, then don’t go; it is like going to a Mega Death concert and whining the music is too loud.
I don’t know where you live but I went to several drag shows and never have I once saw a drag queen grab someone’s junk. It disrespectful and they should know better. It’s like pulling the wig off a drag queen…does that make it right to do that? No.
Someone having their junk grabbed leads to hurt feelings. Snatching the wig off a queen could get you seriously harmed. No contest.
P.S. Wherever you live sounds rather droll and Central Midwestern, but I repeat myself
Good Lord, Getting your junk grabbed once? If I had a dime for every time a drag queen grabbed my junk or fondled my ass when I was young and hot I’d have more money than David Geffen. What’s gonna happen when they find out the true meaning behind the term “Twink”