So the Eagle, a gay bar in North Portland, booked comedian Shirley Q. Liquor—a drag queen who performs in black face. Comedians constantly push social mores and the less politically correct often the more famous the comedian. And as Dave Chappelle highlighted, when done right, poking at racial stereotypes can be hilarious.

That was until Portland unleashed a flurry of protests in every corner of the internet.

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The Eagle had the good sense to cancel the show after a major outcry erupted on the bar’s Facebook page—and bloggers criticized the bar by noting “community anecdotes have shown that the owners are racist, transphobic, desire controversy, and operate out of white male privilege.”

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Whether or not the last part is true isn’t clear. A bartender at the Eagle wouldn’t comment and messages left for owners were not returned. I’d say it’s unlikely, however, that a transphobic establishment would book Liquor in the first place.

Chappelle wanted his black-face sketch to highlight the terrible nature of racial stereotypes, but that intention was completely lost on one audience member who laughed hardily for the wrong reasons. The incident was so unsettling that the episode never aired and is cited as the reason Chappelle took a break from the show.

Shirley isn’t Chappelle (not even in the same universe) and her black-face routine, if you ask me, isn’t funny. Liquors has been quoted as saying, “my comedy isn’t racist, nor am I,” but the internet has spoken (as has every person with an ounce of common sense) and yes, a white man impersonating a black woman by painting his face black cuts to the very core of racism.

What is funny is that people will pay to see it and there is a significant group of people who don’t understand why this is racist. Supporters of Liquor cite her New Orleans roots, as if living in proximity to African Americans bestows Liquor with deep empathy for a culture that has faced centuries of deep-seated racism.

In fact, Liquor herself wanted to open her show up with some dialog and a Q&A session, presumably where Liquor, again a white man impersonating a black woman, would wax rhapsodic about what it was like to have relatives lynched during the 1940s, what segregation felt like according to her grandmother, and the fear of living in a world where the murder rate among African Americans is as much as 10 times that of Caucasians. Ahem.

* I incorrectly identified the performer in the first post, Liquor is the correct spelling of her name.

21 replies on “North Portland Gay Bar Cancels Drag Queen’s Black Face Act”

  2. Agreed with @C.O.

    The blog also says, “Portland’s community of colors should not have to experience these daily aggression (both micro and macro) that clearly show no regard for folks of color in Portland.” – Yeah, I’m waiting for that to happen any day now. Wait, did I just hear the cops shoot another black guy? Or was another black youth kidnapped and no one cared because a white boy was also missing? Nah, they’re just harassing some young black kid for wearing baggy jeans and hanging out with two other males. Now they’re taking his picture and calling him a “gang suspect.” Wow. Anyways, thank God we’ve found time to worry about a drag queen, that’s the real injustice here.

    People always get offended. I’ve offended liberals for talking about why the war is still bad even though Obama is doing it. I stopped worrying about pissing people off a long time ago, and now I celebrate offensive free speech. For example: just about everyone hates the Westboro Baptists – the universal despise of these people is perhaps the only thing that holds this country together. Truly, as a country we can all say, “Look at these bastards! I HATE THEM!” That’s a beautiful thing.

    I support this show, I’m disappointed that the owners of the Eagle, ostensibly members of gay community, folded due to internet pressure. They, more than most communities, should be comfortable saying “I don’t give a shit if you’re offended. I’m going to do what I want.” Equally, I hope that members of the African American community would protest this event, which I very much doubt they would do, but I would hope so if they’re truly offended.

  3. Black face 2013: how totally edgy to make fun of the same people who’ve always been on the receiving end of this cruel joke. And in almost the exact same way. Ironic racism is still racism. In fact it isn’t even ironic. It’s cynical. And cynics only wake up to take sides with power. In this case the power is, as always, white supremacy. Anyone who thinks post-racial means anything should delete themselves from the world.

  5. For the uninformed, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is a group of bears who dress up like nuns and paint their faces like clowns. There’s no race element to the white makeup, so I don’t know if this comparison holds water.

  6. @fidelity axiom
    If I can think of something worse than the bad thing you’re complaining about, the thing you’re complaining about doesn’t mater at all! That’s just how it works! So with that in mind: Hitler! There: I WIN!
    Cool that you stopped worrying about pissing people off! There’s lots of shows on HBO that make being a sociopath seem great, so congratulations.

  7. @Spahn – “And cynics only wake up to take sides with power.” Do you know where the word cynic comes from? Hint: they reject contemporary authority. If you think this performer is being cynical (which I can partially agree with), they’re either ridiculing African American norms, or White norms (likely both), but not exactly “taking sides with” authority.

  8. @fidelity I’m not totally sure where cynic comes from but it sounds like you are. I’m pretty sure it has something to do with ancient Greece and I’m also pretty sure it’s possible for words to change meaning over thousands of years and through translation into different languages.
    Powerful people aren’t the butt of cruel jokes, marginalized people are. Then and now.
    But yeah, even when the jokes are identical, this time I’m sure they’ll pull back the curtain on our hypocrisy and free us all. This version of edgy is not edgy. It’s what power tells you it edgy because power likes being powerful and power is white.
    Anyway, I’m pretty sure I already won this argument when I wrote Hitler.

  9. I hesitate to mention it, but since interning is part of your education… “laughed heartily” is the idiomatic phrase you wanted, I believe.

  10. If you’re offended by one unknown drag queen doing black face, you should really be offended by Justin Bieber slowly transforming himself into Chris Brown.

  11. Thank you Cara for a nice rundown explaining why this even was protested so furiously. Hopefully someone learned something.

  13. I must admit I’d forgotten that “the internet has spoken” means “a blogger who said something I agree with (in 2007) has spoken.”

  14. Actually, the quality of drag performance varies enough that some of it is comparable to an offensive minstrel act. It’s much harder to draw a line there though, and I wouldn’t try. I tend to agree with RuPaul.

  16. Todd, you’re a bit off here, the blog entry from 2007 is citing a whole bunch of black media outlets & internet sites which were criticizing Liquors’ act, before GLAAD also did. Just because you or I may not read them doesn’t make those sites not on the internet.

  17. Oh yeah, Cara, booking a drag act isn’t evidence against a venue being transphobic, it’s completely irrelevant. Liquor/Knipp is a cisgender gay man, as are very many drag queens, not a transgender woman. The majority of transvestites (not that it came up in your article) are straight men who dress as women to fulfil a sexual kink. There are overlaps but these are pretty distinguishable categories, and being okay with one doesn’t mean you can’t discriminate against the others.

  19. You have a point, xauen, and I suppose stating “part of the internet has spoken” wouldn’t have the same impact, even if it would be far more accurate.

    I found Cara’s “every person with an ounce of common sense” statement (and attitude) a bit much considering what the Mercury gets away with sometimes. If someone was trying to get the Merc pulled from the Eagle’s entryway (or elsewhere) there might be a different song being sung.

  20. Agreed on what the Mercury gets away with. Can’t really saddle the new intern with responsibility for everything the Merc runs, but it undermines the shit out of the righteous indignation.

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