THIS is the shocking moment RuPaul’s Drag Race star The Vivienne is punched in the face at McDonald’s in a horror homophobic attack.
The Drag Race winner, whose real name is James Lee Williams, said he was victim of a “barrage of abuse”.
Merseyside PoliceNew CCTV has emerged revealing the moment of the attack[/caption]
Merseyside PoliceThe Vivienne claims she was subjected to a ‘barrage of abuse’[/caption]
The TV star was attacked by Alan Whitfield after entering the fast-food branch on Edge Lane in Liverpool on June 16.
CCTV footage showed Whitfield turning around to Mr Williams a number of times before violently punching him in the face.
The clip also shows how the attacker then walks out of the restaurant – leaving The Vivienne behind.
Mr Whitfield, 51, from Everton admitted assault by beating on Mr Williams but denied the attack was motivated by homophobia at a court hearing earlier this year.
He claimed he was having “banter” with Mr Williams because he thought he looked like an “Oompa Loompa”.
However, Liverpool Magistrates’ Court have found the attack to have been motivated by homophobia.
Speaking during the trial, Mr Williams said: “He carried on, then after the fourth ‘look at the state of you’ I said ‘look at the state of you’.
“I said ‘look at the state of your face’, to which he said ‘I’ve got skin cancer‘ and then punched me straight in the face.”
He also claimed the horrific attack, which happened in front of kids and women, was because of the way he looked.
Mr Williams continued : “There were countless other people in the branch of McDonald’s that day, why didn’t he start on anyone else
“Why did he choose to publicly humiliate me and then hit me, if it wasn’t for my image or me being quite evidently gay?”
Mr Whitfield told the court the drag star caught his attention because of his dyed green hair.
The defendant said he asked him: “What have you come as, an Oompa Loompa?”
Mr Whitfield who was working as a scaffolder at the time, said he did not know Mr Williams was gay and he didn’t see the handbag he was carrying.
He said he struck Mr Williams after was made “very very angry” by the remarks about his skin cancer on his face.
In response, Mr Williams told the court: “For that I truly apologise, that must have hurt, that was never intended.”
The Welsh drag queen previously told about the attack and said it left her “shaken and scarred”.
The Vivienne told This Morning: “It did shake me up a little bit. From a young age I’ve always been so confident and didn’t care what people thought.
“I found myself, for the first time in my life ever, hiding around the corner to wait for the train.
“It was in that moment I thought wow that really has affected me.”
After retiring to deliberate, chairman of the bench Anthony Canning said: “We find that the defendant’s evidence was not credible.
“Having considered this incident from beginning to end, we believe beyond reasonable doubt that the hostility shown by yourself from the outset was motivated and down to the perceived sexuality of the complainant and this was homophobic in nature.”
As he left the court, Whitfield said: “Joke. Bullshit. Where’s the hate crime for my cancer?”
After the trial, senior district Crown prosecutor Emily Lloyd said: “The finding that the offence was a hate crime enables the court to increase the sentence against Mr Whitfield to reflect this fact.
“We would not have been able to prosecute this offence without the courage of the victim making a statement and coming to court to give evidence.”
Whitfield, of Tom Mann Close, Liverpool, will be sentenced on January 3.
BBCThe Vivienne was crowned winner of Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK on season one[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
