Lucy Grant, an artist in the capital scene, has issued a letter through her solicitor apologising to Andrew Donohoe, after he threatened to sue her for defamation.
Lucy (left) and Andrew (right) at AXM Glasgow in 2019(Image: Supplied)
An Edinburgh drag queen and DJ spread unfounded ‘humiliating and hurtful’ rumours a rival was having sex with underage performers.
Lucy Grant, an artist in the capital scene, has issued a letter through her solicitor apologising to Andrew Donohoe, after he threatened to sue her for defamation.
Andrew, who performs drag under the name Skinny Minnie, claimed to have lost lucrative gigs as a consequence of the fabricated gossip, Edinburgh Live reports.
Other performers told how the shocking episode shines a light on the scene’s often “toxic” cancel culture – with others claiming to have been caused emotional distress and loss of work after also being targeted with potentially libellous claims.
In a letter seen by our sister title Edinburgh Live, Lucy, who performs as DJ Melted, wrote: “I would like to apologise for any comments I made which suggested you were involved in inappropriate sexual relationships with underage drag performers.
“It was wrong of me to accuse you of these things on the basis of rumours and the comments of other individuals and I retract those comments.”
Andrew performs drag under the name Skinny Minnie. He threatened to sue Lucy Grant for defamation.(Image: Supplied)
In messages between Lucy and other drag performers – Lucy claimed Andrew was “interacting with kids” and “manipulates people”.
Messages sent by Lucy read: “She’s defo in chats with kids” and “Adults shouldn’t be interacting with kids.
They went on: “I know Skinny manipulates people and kids have complained about her behaviour to other adults. I personally don’t trust her at all. I’ve seen her in action and I wouldn’t believe a word that comes out of her mouth.”
“Them constantly involving themselves with children, being on Snapchat with them . . . Like at this point I actually want to go to the police.”
In one message, Lucy admitted: “I have zero evidence but someone did say that to me and it makes me so uncomfortable.”
Andrew claimed the messages amounted to a targeted attack on his character without evidence. He said the campaign began after he became more prominent in the scene.
He said: “Everything last year was exceptionally triggering. It’s humiliating, hurtful, and put me in a position where this affects me and also the entire community. I don’t want to damage the community, I don’t want people to turn around and start calling drag queens paedophiles. Emotionally, it’s been really tough.”
Andrew began performing drag in 2019 and quickly rose to prominence with his act, winning competitions across Scotland and regularly performing at Three Sisters and Planet Bar in Edinburgh. Even now he is a resident performer at Brewhemia. However, he believes he became a target when he got on the wrong side of Lucy, then a booker for one of Edinburgh’s biggest drag shows at Subway.
Skinny Minnie spoke out on the “toxic” Edinburgh drag scene culture(Image: Supplied)
He added: “She was a very intimidating presence, the booker of the biggest show in Edinburgh.” Andrew also claimed he was removed from drag gigs and competitions due to the rumours.
He said: “So many Pride opportunities were taken away from me. I lost so much work, I’ve been banned from gay venues like CC Blooms and bars in Glasgow like Polo, The Corset Club, and Delmonicas, all places where I previously worked.”
Andrew believed performers close to Lucy canvased venues he was booked at to get him removed or banned. Edinburgh Live has seen direct messages sent by a performer connected to Lucy which express concern Andrew was performing at shows in light of unfounded rumours. The messages also contained a letter allegedly sent to venues outlining the “harm” he posed to “performers and audience members”.
The publication also saw an email sent to Andrew from a manager at a Glasgow club, which read: “[We] have been receiving lots of messages and [another performer] has been receiving emails, messages, and phone calls about this whole situation so we are going to have to put a break on gigs with you at the moment.”
Other drag queens spoke out about the scene’s toxic culture of bullying and rumours, which they claim lost them work.
Andrew (right) and Lucy (left) at a drag scene house party in 2019 (Image: Suppled)
One performer, who wished to remain anonymous, said of Lucy: “We used to be friends [but] there was a smear campaign. She didn’t have any evidence and when she was asked to provide evidence, she couldn’t.
“On the surface, the [drag] environment looks to be very progressive and they talk about inclusion, but underneath that it’s queer gangs in a sense that clique up.
“If you’re not a part of the popular group, you’ll always be held at arms length and you won’t get gigs. Anytime you speak up about hypocrisy, all of the sudden buzz words pop up. They use it to get on a soap box and boost their profile.”
Ruairidh Bowen, a prominent Edinburgh drag queen who performs as Rujazzle, said: “The scene has always been toxic in different ways. When I started, people were judgmental of me because I was from Edinburgh and perceived me as posh and spread rumours that my parents paid for all my drag.
“This wasn’t true, they didn’t even know I did drag. In the last year, it hit boiling point where everyone went crazy. I was also getting cut from gigs around the time of the rumours. People were saying things because of my association with Skinny.”
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For Andrew, the emotional toll of the situation has been heavy. He said it took a toll on his mental health and risked him losing a community and career he loved. He recently broke his silence when he shared a video on social media detailing his side of the story.
Andrew added: “I’ve been through a lot with this. I want nobody to be able to do something like this in my community. People do this a lot. Whether it’s accusations of sexual assault, bigotry, misogyny, they will make things up and weaponise it to hurt people that they don’t like.
“These people were weaoponising homophobic narratives against me. The only people who have ever called me a paedophile is my own community. Ive never been called a paedophile by a straight person in a bar, only my own community out of malice. We need to come together to battle this rhetoric rather than contribute to it.”
“It’s a tough one because I’m a progressive person, I believe victims – but my experience here has really jaded me. Traumatic is an understatement.”
Lucy Grant and her solicitor declined to comment when approached by Edinburgh Live.