EXCLUSIVE: After making her RuPaul’s Drag Race debut this year on Season 17, Lexi Love is fighting to keep her own drag name amid a trademark infringement complaint.
The drag queen, whose legal name is Clair Barnes, recently responded after adult entertainment actress Selena Scola called out her, the show, Paramount+ and World of Wonder, requesting that they “immediately and permanently cease all use” of the Lexi Love name.
“I’ve had three venues pull out because she is sending them also cease and desist emails,” Barnes told Deadline. “She made a post speaking negatively about my trials and tribulations I opened up about on the show, including my HIV.”
Barnes continued, “My team reached out and have had no return communication from her, and she just keeps reporting my accounts. I offered a licensing agreement, terms, anything, and she is just continuing to attack online.”
Noting she’s used the name since 2009, Barnes said she’s “considering having a ‘Name Me’ [contest] or something before she ruins everything I have worked for and erases me off social media.”
Scola previously wrote in her complaint on X that “by taking my name and using it without consent, you are erasing my two-decade legacy and identity—actions that directly contradict the values of consent, authenticity and respect that LGBTQ+ and marginalized communities champion for.”
Although she shared a screenshot of a 2009 ruling that granted her rights to the LexiLove.com domain, that trademark was cancelled in March 2015, according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Scola’s new trademark was approved by the USPTO this January after she filed another application in February 2024, requesting the name for use with talent agency and management services for “performing artists being both human clients and digital talent in the nature of digital personas, virtual performers and AI-driven talent.”
Barnes was announced as part of the RPDR Season 17 cast in December, with the season running from Jan. 3 to April 18 on MTV. “[Scola] was being tagged as me and two months after I was announced on TV, she reinstated an old trademark she no longer had and is now attacking my social media, Cameo and streaming music,” she said.
Scola took aim at Barnes’ HIV status and transgender identity on X, writing: “These personal disclosures were made publicly by the contestant while using my name in commerce without consent.
“Such infringement causes significant brand confusion, damages my personal and professional reputation, and creates false associations with experiences and conditions that do not apply to me or my brand,” added Scola.
In addition to her adult entertainment work, Scola’s credits as Lexi Love include Prison Guard #2 in Director’s Cut (2016) and Kickball Player in Jexi (2019), as well as the voice of Prostitute #4 in Grand Theft Auto V (2013).
