Police have charged the person suspected of attacking RuPaul’s Drag Race UK winner The Vivienne earlier this year.
On 16 June, the man approached The Vivienne in a Liverpool McDonald’s and made homophobic comments.
He then punched her in the face and fled, according to Merseyside Police.
Alan Whitfield, 50, of Everton, has been charged with assault. He will appear before magistrates on 5 September.
“No-one, no matter what their background or religious beliefs, should be assaulted, threatened, or subjected to any form of hate crime,” Detective Inspector Alan Nuttall said, according to the BBC.
“Please be reassured that we thoroughly investigate reports of those targeted through hate crime and will be relentless to bring offenders to justice.”
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The Vivienne responded to the news on Twitter.
“With hate crimes on the rise. I will not, and will never stop SCREAMING ABOUT EQUALITY FOR EVERYBODY! At least some good news has come today.
“Thanks again to @MerseyPolice who have been fantastic and who I will be working with in the future to make sure we battle this head on.”
The Vivienne has been open about the psychological impact the attack had on her
In a recent appearance on This Morning, the drag superstar spoke about how the experienced affected her.
“It was in broad daylight. I wasn’t in drag. I was getting a burger, and what happened, happened, but the police were fantastic, and it did kind of shake me up a little bit,” she explained.
“Because I’ve always been from a young age so confident and didn’t care what anyone thought. But then I found myself, even after the attack, I was like, ‘Oh, it’s fine, I’ve dealt with this for years,’ but then going on a train and hiding around a corner–– it did shake me up a bit.”
Towards the end of her interview, The Vivienne admitted that she was glad that the attack happened to her instead of a younger queer individual.
“You know, we’re fine, and we get through it, but I’m kind of glad it happened to me, who is able to deal with it than, say, a 15 or 16-year-old gay youth who’s come to terms with themselves it would have really affected them for life,” she said.
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