Drag performer claims Lyft passed him up for rides

SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - A Bay Area entertainer says he's been passed up numerous times by drivers from a ridesharing company.
He claims it happens just because he's dressed in drag. 

"When it comes down to standing in a gown and crown on the sidewalk it’s always different.  I can wave them down and they'll drive by waving back at me," says Christopher King who plays Queen Dilly Dally.

King says the issue started a few years ago while he was dressed in character and tried to get a ride from a Lyft driver. He says the driver kept going and the company charged him a fee. "This cancelation was because I was in drag and I'm paying the $2 fee and you get automated response saying we don't condone discrimination and this isn't what Lyft is all about," says King. 

Lyft has refunded those cancelations fees and also released this statement. 

Saying "No one using our service should ever feel discriminated against because of who they are. What is being described by the passenger in this case is completely inappropriate and against our values as a company, and we take that very seriously... We ask anyone facing discrimination of any kind to report those incidents to our critical response line so they can be properly investigated."

Dilly Dally's posted the issue she's facing on her Facebook page and as we looked through it. We saw several people saying similar incidents happened to them. 

So we put it to a test. As Chris no problem the car pulled up and off he went. He then changed his Lyft profile to Dilly Dally. 

"I use that so when Lyft is about to come get me they clearly see its Topher as Queen Dilly Dally," says King. 

This time no problem, the car came and off she went.  After the ride we asked how things went.  "The Lyft driver was interesting because he's new and he just moved here from India and he doesn't even know what a drag queen is," says King. 

He says being passed up doesn't happen all the time but often enough that he needed to speak out.  He wants Lyft to explain to her personally why this happens and also put the drivers through sensitivity training.  "I'm a paying passenger and a Lyft driver does not have the choice to drive by me and not pick me up because how I'm dressed," says King. 

He says he would also like Lyft to add an option that say the driver drove by the passenger, that way they can be reported.  

As for Lyft the spokesman says the company is looking forward to speaking with King to get to the bottom of this issue.