Winner of season 7 of RuPaul's Drag Race, Violet Chachki (real name Jason Dardo), has told social media that she was forcibly removed from Le Dépôt, a Parisian gay sex club, for presenting as femme.
The drag queen was in France to walk in shows at Paris Fashion Week, and was at the well-known queer venue that night to attend a Fashion Week afterparty.
Chachki tweeted about the account overnight, stating that they'd been "physically dragged" off of the premises:
Chachki also posted live video on Periscope, in which you see her and a friend confronting the bouncers about the situation, and demanding that they return her jacket.
Le Dépôt is one of the most well-known gay sex clubs in Paris, and has certain areas that permit sexual intercourse. Chachki that they were attempting to walk downstairs to the sex-permitted level of the venue after seeing some friends DJ, when she and her friend were allegedly 'grabbed by four guys' and dragged out.
“It was a fashion week party [at a] club that has dark rooms downstairs for sex. I was there seeing three friends that were performing/[DJing]," said Chachki.
"I wasn’t in drag but I had makeup on. I met someone there who also had makeup on but was obviously male bodied but very feminine. We tried to go downstairs to the sexy part when like four guys picked us up and dragged us out of the club.”
The club has since been on the receiving end of a social media campaign created by fans of Chachki, with hundreds of one-star reviews and negative comments being left on .
Fans have taken to Facebook and Reddit to protest the actions of the club. French drag artist Mirage , "Throwing Violet Chachki out, one the most know [sic] queens of RuPaul’s Drag Race, BECAUSE SHE LOOKED TOO FEM, and while there was an inclusive fashion show inside, is totally UNTHINKABLE and OUTRAGEOUS for a so-called gay clun [sic].
"No parisian queen will come again to your place. Your Masc4Masc culture and you are OVER."
Another fan on spoke out about dangerous precedents set by the 'masc' sub-culture, saying, "It's so gross that hating or excluding effeminate gays is such a trend. Like if you don't fit the hyper-masculine archetype you're invisible or deemed less desirable to other gay cis gendered men. So disgusting and so wrong!" Another agreed, saying, "Ultra masc cruising-type gay men seem to hate femme guys more than anyone else".
And another explained that misogyny that exists in the LGBTQIA+ community, too: "It's gross that even in our own community we still have people that look down on being too 'feminine' to the point where these people cannot have them in their presence and have to get them kicked out of the club. I get it, everyone has their own preferences and shit, but apparently they are some people so disgusted by it they have to literally get it removed from their view."
The club has not issued a statement about the incident at time of writing.
