Drag Race UK’s Choriza May ‘ditched by Uber’ when driver saw her in drag
Drag Race star Choriza May claims homophobic Uber driver drove away when he saw her waiting in drag (Credit: Choriza May / X)
Drag Race UK star Choriza May has accused an Uber driver of homophobia after he cancelled her booking when he saw her in drag waiting for the taxi.
The Spanish drag queen, who competed in series three of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, claimed she was waiting for an Uber in London on Monday (18 September), when the driver saw her and drove away.
“Just a bit of homophobia to finish off Fashion Week,” May wrote on Twitter, alongside photos of herself and the taxi.
May told PinkNews that she and a friend, both in drag, called the Uber after working at a show and going for lunch.
“The Uber arrived… I go out, wave at him, with my suitcases and full make-up. It was clear that the Uber was for us,” she said.
“I’m just waiting and I see him move forward. I look at my screen and the Uber app was finding me another driver, because he had cancelled the trip.”
May added that “this has happened to me before”, explaining that several black taxis “ignored” her as she tried to flag one down earlier that day.
Uber has told PinkNews it is investigating.
The Drag Race star claimed “this has happened to many drag queens and it’s disgusting that this keeps happening”.
She went on: “We’re just doing our job… we want to get from one place to another to work… it’s quite sad that this discrimination happens.
“It leaves you in a vulnerable position where you wait for the next Uber, it leaves you in a very vulnerable position that means you might suffer more homophobia, because you’re in drag on the street.
“But, would I have wanted to share that drive with a homophobe? Probably not.
“I don’t really know what the solution is. Maybe the drivers should get a bit more training on diversity, and maybe if you’re not ready to take every single person in your car, you shouldn’t be offering that service.”
The incident should show brands that “Pride is [about] more than flags and campaigns with drag queens during Pride month”, and should be about cracking down on discrimination inside organisations, she added.
In July 2022, Uber released an anti-discrimination reporting feature in an attempt to make trips safer for LGBTQ+ passengers, following a number of incidents.
In 2020, one passenger claimed he was kicked out of an Uber and punched in the face after a homophobic driver discovered he was gay. Earlier that year, another gay man and his date were told to stop kissing by their driver “because she [was] a Christian”.
Speaking about Monday’s alleged incident, an Uber spokesperson told PinkNews: “What has been described is totally unacceptable and we are investigating this.
“Uber has a zero-tolerance approach to any type of discrimination and any driver found to have behaved in this manner risks being removed from the platform.”
