Blackface Shirley Q. Liquor appearance nixed on Dr. Martin Luther King Day
Gay City News
VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 Jan 20 - 26, 2005 Gay City News
Unforgivable Blackface Shirley Q. Liquor appearance nixed on Dr. Martin Luther King Day in New York
By ANDY HUMM
Faced with an onslaught of protest, Junior Vasquez cancelled aperformance by Chuck Knipp, a white man who was to appear in blackfaceas Shirley Q. Liquor on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at Club Spirit inChelsea. About 30 demonstrators braved subfreezing temperatures Monday to picketthe club at 537 W. 27th St. over its hosting of Knipp who "plays a blackwoman who is a welfare recipient with 19 children," the Audre LordeProject, a sponsor of the action said in a release. The community centerfor queer people of color, located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, "awarded"Knipp the "Jesse Helms Award for Profiting from Racism and Misogyny onMartin Luther King Jr. Day." Colin Robinson, director of the New York State Black Gay Network,another co-sponsor of the protest, said, "This is absolutely not afree-speech issue. Part of the legacy of Dr. King is understanding thatjust because something is legal, doesn't make it right. Slavery? Segregation? Homophobia? The right to say some things doesn't change theway those words inflict violence on black women." "Shirley Q. Liquor's not a cabaret act," the protestors chanted, "It's a racist, classist, misogynistic attack."
Within minutes of the start of the demonstration, club manager CoreyLane, a white man, came outside to say that the action was "all in vain"because Vasquez, one of the nation's most prominent nightclub promoters,had already cancelled Knipp's performance. Lane had no comment on Knipp's act, saying he had never seen him perform. Kenyon Farrow, an African-American writer who participated in the action, said that on Club Spirit's online bulletin board, more than 400 responses to the appearance of Knipp had been posted."I don't believe they didn't know how offensive this act was ahead oftime," he said.
Jerome Farely, the white manager of Junior Vasquez Music, also addressed the demonstrators, claiming he, too, did not know about the nature of Knipp's act. He said that RuPaul, the African-American cross-dressingstar and a supporter of Shirley Q. Liquor, had brought Knipp in to do a remix on one of his songs. Kevin Williams, who is African American, is the director of marketingfor Vasquez. " Junior tends to trust RuPaul," but cancelled Knipp "out of respect for his base of gay people of color," he said. Later, Williams pulled this reporter aside and said, "I don't get it. No one protested the Wayans brothers when they did a movie as white women. Dame Edna is mocking white women. I think it's comedy."Farrow said, "Drag has a lot to answer for in terms of sexism and misogyny," noting that "gay men can be racist and sexist."
Clarence Patton, the executive director of the National Coalition ofAnti-Violence Projects, said after the demonstration that "Shirley Q. Liquor's base is white frat boys and, sadly, white gay men." Performances by Knipp in 2002 were cancelled by a Boston venue after protests and closed at New York's The View gay bar after picketers showed up. When he appeared at the Marquee in New York in 2004, activists "disturbed" a performance according to a release.
In 2002, the National Association of Black and White Men Together issued a statement saying, "We find the Shirley Q. Liquor performance objectionable on three fronts. First, this performance resurrects distorted racist caricatures common to the blackface performances that became popular in 19th-century American vaudeville. Second, the ShirleyQ. Liquor character is constructed on a negative and degrading image of women. Third, the character is based on the classist stereotype that people who need public assistance are fundamentally lazy. On all three counts, this act offends current sensibilities of what is appropriate.
"Knipp, a Mississippi native, is scheduled to appear again at the gay Southern Decadence festival in New Orleans in September. In a recent interview on the festival's Web site, he insisted, "My comedy isn't racist, nor am I. More than anything, my comedy makes fun of whites'views of blacks. My comedy pokes fun at everything, including myself.That's what comedy is about, making us escape form everyday life and seeing the funny side." Knipp's work is syndicated by the American Comedy Network and played in more than 300 radio markets.
RuPaul has resolutely defended Knipp's act, telling Southern Decadence, "Critics who think that Shirley Q. Liquor is offensive are idiots. Listen, I've been discriminated against by everybody in the world: gay people, black people, whatever. I know discrimination, I know racism, I know it very intimately. She's not racist, and if she were, she wouldn't be on my new CD."RuPaul came to Knipp's defense as early as 2002, when New Yorkers first mobilized against his appearance here."RuPaul has been on the wrong side of this issue for years," saidRobinson. Trishala Deb of Audre Lorde told the demonstrators, "I think we won. Junior Vasquez and Club Spirit recognized the errors of using Shirley Q. Liquor for business and for the LGBT community."
VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 Jan 20 - 26, 2005 Gay City News
Unforgivable Blackface Shirley Q. Liquor appearance nixed on Dr. Martin Luther King Day in New York
By ANDY HUMM
Faced with an onslaught of protest, Junior Vasquez cancelled aperformance by Chuck Knipp, a white man who was to appear in blackfaceas Shirley Q. Liquor on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at Club Spirit inChelsea. About 30 demonstrators braved subfreezing temperatures Monday to picketthe club at 537 W. 27th St. over its hosting of Knipp who "plays a blackwoman who is a welfare recipient with 19 children," the Audre LordeProject, a sponsor of the action said in a release. The community centerfor queer people of color, located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, "awarded"Knipp the "Jesse Helms Award for Profiting from Racism and Misogyny onMartin Luther King Jr. Day." Colin Robinson, director of the New York State Black Gay Network,another co-sponsor of the protest, said, "This is absolutely not afree-speech issue. Part of the legacy of Dr. King is understanding thatjust because something is legal, doesn't make it right. Slavery? Segregation? Homophobia? The right to say some things doesn't change theway those words inflict violence on black women." "Shirley Q. Liquor's not a cabaret act," the protestors chanted, "It's a racist, classist, misogynistic attack."
Within minutes of the start of the demonstration, club manager CoreyLane, a white man, came outside to say that the action was "all in vain"because Vasquez, one of the nation's most prominent nightclub promoters,had already cancelled Knipp's performance. Lane had no comment on Knipp's act, saying he had never seen him perform. Kenyon Farrow, an African-American writer who participated in the action, said that on Club Spirit's online bulletin board, more than 400 responses to the appearance of Knipp had been posted."I don't believe they didn't know how offensive this act was ahead oftime," he said.
Jerome Farely, the white manager of Junior Vasquez Music, also addressed the demonstrators, claiming he, too, did not know about the nature of Knipp's act. He said that RuPaul, the African-American cross-dressingstar and a supporter of Shirley Q. Liquor, had brought Knipp in to do a remix on one of his songs. Kevin Williams, who is African American, is the director of marketingfor Vasquez. " Junior tends to trust RuPaul," but cancelled Knipp "out of respect for his base of gay people of color," he said. Later, Williams pulled this reporter aside and said, "I don't get it. No one protested the Wayans brothers when they did a movie as white women. Dame Edna is mocking white women. I think it's comedy."Farrow said, "Drag has a lot to answer for in terms of sexism and misogyny," noting that "gay men can be racist and sexist."
Clarence Patton, the executive director of the National Coalition ofAnti-Violence Projects, said after the demonstration that "Shirley Q. Liquor's base is white frat boys and, sadly, white gay men." Performances by Knipp in 2002 were cancelled by a Boston venue after protests and closed at New York's The View gay bar after picketers showed up. When he appeared at the Marquee in New York in 2004, activists "disturbed" a performance according to a release.
In 2002, the National Association of Black and White Men Together issued a statement saying, "We find the Shirley Q. Liquor performance objectionable on three fronts. First, this performance resurrects distorted racist caricatures common to the blackface performances that became popular in 19th-century American vaudeville. Second, the ShirleyQ. Liquor character is constructed on a negative and degrading image of women. Third, the character is based on the classist stereotype that people who need public assistance are fundamentally lazy. On all three counts, this act offends current sensibilities of what is appropriate.
"Knipp, a Mississippi native, is scheduled to appear again at the gay Southern Decadence festival in New Orleans in September. In a recent interview on the festival's Web site, he insisted, "My comedy isn't racist, nor am I. More than anything, my comedy makes fun of whites'views of blacks. My comedy pokes fun at everything, including myself.That's what comedy is about, making us escape form everyday life and seeing the funny side." Knipp's work is syndicated by the American Comedy Network and played in more than 300 radio markets.
RuPaul has resolutely defended Knipp's act, telling Southern Decadence, "Critics who think that Shirley Q. Liquor is offensive are idiots. Listen, I've been discriminated against by everybody in the world: gay people, black people, whatever. I know discrimination, I know racism, I know it very intimately. She's not racist, and if she were, she wouldn't be on my new CD."RuPaul came to Knipp's defense as early as 2002, when New Yorkers first mobilized against his appearance here."RuPaul has been on the wrong side of this issue for years," saidRobinson. Trishala Deb of Audre Lorde told the demonstrators, "I think we won. Junior Vasquez and Club Spirit recognized the errors of using Shirley Q. Liquor for business and for the LGBT community."
6 Comments:
I'm a soldier fighting for that right and I can say without a doubt. The only way shirley Q is any different from Malcolm X is she doesn't promote violent thought she just makes fun of a truism among poor black communities. Even african american friends of mine express the same feelings so suck it up and lests keep free speach free.
This post has been removed by the author.
It's unbelievable to me that anyone considers this an issue at all, much less one that deserves so much time and attention when there are MUCH bigger fish to fry in this troubled world. Chuck Knipp is no more racist than I am...and I can guarantee that I am not. Racism is not what makes his act funny....the pure rediculous nature of Shirley Q's statements and situations are where the comedy lies. Chuck isn't belitting any racial group any more than the characters of the movie "White Chicks" are, yet I don't see white people protesting that movie..I see them embracing it, and God forbid, LAUGHING ALONG. Get over yourselves, people...Shirley Q Liquor is just one more light-hearted look into the life of a FICTIONAL character. Do you really think anyone, in this day and age, would purposely get on a stage in public and outwardly redicule any racial group? Not likely. If you're offended by anything Shirley Q Liquor has to say, then you clearly have issues with yourself. Your issues aren't something that the rest of us should have to suffer censorship for.
Nope, sorry, it's RACIST.
SQL is hilarious. The only people that I know that listen to her are black anyway.
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