Drag Race finalist Lexi Love faces cancelled gigs and takedowns after a trademark fight fuelled by transphobic attacks from the name’s claimant…
When RuPaul’s Drag Race season 17 finalist Lexi Love should have been celebrating her breakout year, she found herself in the crosshairs of a legal and personal attack. Another performer — an actor and entrepreneur who once worked in adult entertainment — claimed to own the name “Lexi Love” through an old trademark filing and began issuing cease-and-desist notices.
But this isn’t just a paperwork dispute. The trademark claimant’s response has been laced with homophobic undertones, including public statements distancing themselves from HIV, addiction, and homelessness — the very struggles Lexi Love spoke about with courage on Drag Race. Fans see it for what it is: harassment, erasure, and an attempt to derail a queer performer’s livelihood.
Who Owns the Name “Lexi Love”?
Drag Race finalist Clair Barnes has performed as Lexi Love since 2009. For more than a decade, that name has been her stage identity, her creative persona, and her growing brand.
The trademark claimant, Selena Scola, insists she first registered “Lexi Love” in 2004 and recently reinstated the mark after seeing Barnes appear on television. She argues that the drag queen’s use of the name damages her own reputation and brand.
Barnes counters that Scola let the trademark lapse years ago and only revived it opportunistically once Drag Race exposure brought national attention.
Venues and Platforms Cave to Pressure
Within weeks of the claim going public, Barnes began losing bookings. At least three venues canceled her shows after receiving threatening cease-and-desist emails.
Online platforms followed suit. Her Cameo page vanished. Spotify scrubbed her original music, including her finale single “Classic.” Apple Music left just one track standing. Even Facebook pages tied to her drag name were taken down.
For a performer fresh off Drag Race, this period should have been career-defining. Instead, she was watching her digital presence dissolve under legal pressure.
The Trademark Claimant’s Homophobic Statement
The backlash intensified when Scola issued a public “clarification” drawing stark lines between herself and Barnes:
She emphasized that she was not transgender, not living with HIV, not formerly unhoused, and not a drug addict.
The statement, widely circulated on X (Twitter), read less like a legal defense and more like a thinly veiled dismissal of Barnes’ lived experiences. Fans and LGBTQ+ commentators quickly called it what it was: a homophobic and stigmatizing attempt to delegitimize Barnes by weaponizing her vulnerabilities.
Fans Rally Behind Drag Race’s Lexi Love
Despite the losses, Barnes has not been alone. Drag Race fans, fellow performers, and queer media have rallied behind her. Online threads highlight the suspicious timing of Scola’s trademark reactivation. Hashtags trend with messages of support. And fans are already pledging to follow Barnes under a new name if necessary.
Barnes herself has floated the idea of a “Name Me” contest to let supporters help her rebrand — a painful prospect, but one that shows her determination to keep moving forward despite attempts to erase her.
Community Calls Out Transphobia in the Lexi Love Dispute
The Lexi Love battle is more than a legal footnote. It’s a reminder of how intellectual property law can be wielded not to protect but to silence. In this case, a queer artist’s stage identity is under siege at the exact moment she should be thriving.
Fans aren’t buying the sanitized narrative of a neutral dispute. They see one person weaponizing trademarks to erase another, while hiding behind a veneer of professionalism. And they’re making sure Lexi Love — the drag queen who bared her truth on TV — isn’t erased so easily.
Lexi Love Won’t Be Erased
Trademark filings and cease-and-desist letters can shut down bookings and wipe music off streaming sites, but they can’t erase what Lexi Love represents. Fans watched her stand on a global stage and share her truth without shame. That courage is what people remember, and it’s why they’re rallying behind her now.
Whether she keeps the name or rebrands under a new one, the queen the world met on Drag Race isn’t going anywhere. And if there’s one thing drag has always proven, is pure and utter resilience against the status quo we have always been fighting against. Don’t give up Lexi.
POST A COMMENT