Ban Shirley Q. Liquor

Miami Welcomes Blackface Comic

Well least when Charles Knipps’ blows into town this weekend to perform his alter ego character Shirley Q. Liquor, he won’t be welcomed with open arms from everyone.

According to the Miami New Times, Liberty City activist Rev. Richard Dunn has hatched a plan to mobilize protesters via his radio show he co-hosts with Bishop Victor T. Curry on WMBM-AM (1490). "It shows that unfortunately racism is alive and well in America," Dunn says. "It shows that we are not serious or sensitive enough about the rights of everyone."

Knipps’ is scheduled to perform not once, but twice at the this weekend's Exxxotica convention in Miami Beach.

Exxxotica spokesman Woody Graber refused to answer questions regarding Knipp's act. He says the convention will "showcase a wide variety of exhibitors, seminars, and attendees who embrace alternative lifestyles and ... enjoy a multitude of personal pleasures. Although all may not be of one mind, at Exxxotica we all agree to not pass judgment."

And I’ll add, we’ll just laugh at the fat white gay man who is passing judgment on Black women with his racist act.

For the record, this is bullshit. Porn, sex, and blackface, what a combination.

 

Another Sign America IS NOT Transcending Race: The Niglet

University of Alabama student Elizabeth Dennis recently changed her Facebook profile image from Piglet, a Winnie the Pooh character, that was in blackface with one hand holding a watermelon and the other holding a bucket of KFC Fried Chicken, with the word “Niglet” underneath.  After it got around that the photo was up she posted a new pic and added the confession “the profile pic was a joke ... Sorry if I offended.”

But after looking at all of  the photos that she posted of herself in blackface, I am even more disappointed that she was apparently supported by other brothas and sistas to do what she did. 

Elizabeth must have missed the big speech yesterday because these photos were up TODAY.   

But America’s transcending race and blacks need to get over it. Yeah right!

I wonder what's the percentage of white college students dressing up in blackface to black college students dressing up in whiteface and then being stupid enough or smart enough, depending on how you look at it, to post the photos on Facebook or Myspace.

Let's see now...TheSmokingGun.com reported on the photos taken last year on the bank of the Red River, where students from the University of Louisiana at Monroe decided to reenact their version of the Jena 6. Then there was Texas' Tarleton State University and South Carolina's Clemson University who came  under scrutiny after photos posted on the Internet showed Martin Luther King Jr. Day parties with white students dressed to mimic stereotypes of Black people.  Mimicked stereotypes included Aunt Jemima and gang members.  One student is pictured with his entire body painted in black, while a female padded her buttocks.  To add injury to insult, the students also appear to be drinking 40 ounces of malt liquor and eating fried chicken. And although he's no college student, let's not forget Charles Knipp's Shirley Q. Liquor.

And we're transcending race how again?

Keep reading to see photos...but I gotta warn you, it ain't pretty. 

Hat tip: Brentin Mock

Support for Shirley Q. Liquor

Lesbian comedian Julie Goldman of The Big Gay Sketch Show, which airs on Logo, MTVs gay channel, made some interesting comments regarding her thoughts on Charles Knipp and Shirley Q. Liquor last year after activists were able to get a few of Knipp's shows canceled.

The comments were made during the May 17, 2007 episode of She Said What? a weekly online lesbian entertainment   talk show featuring lesbian and bisexual women discussing the latest pop culture   and entertainment news.

Goldman thought that Shirley Q. Liquor was funny, but not racist because her intent is good.

WTF?

Julie Goldman has been officially added as one of Charles Knipp's supporters.  Her comments as you can see in the video were made in the presence of another Black, poet and activist Staceyann Chin who clearly disagreed with her assessment.

Goldman, a white lesbian, clearly illustrates the racial divide in the gay community when it comes to issues of race and class.

On the Blogroll...

You Better Recognize

Why is trash running around disguising himself as a ghetto black woman w/19 kids named Shirley Q. Liquor? Why is it ok for him to don a blackface and portray us as a mammy-jiggaboo?  If he was a regular white person he'd of been ran up a pole somewhere.  What do you do when he's gay man?

Imani Uncut

White Gay America, it seems, still has a ways to go in terms of learning what’s appropriate forms of comedy.

I Don't Do Ignorance

Drawing by Son of Ellis

By Jasmyne Cannick, JasmyneCannick.com

The global image of the Black woman continues to be under attack, the latest of which being with Charles Knipp and his character Shirley Q. Liquor.  Liquor, is described by Charles Knipp as being "the Queen of Ignunce," who is based on his experiences with and interpretations of Black southern women.  Knipp, who is white and gay, performs the character --- an illiterate, welfare collecting, mother of 19 children, who drives a Caddy, and attends Mount Holy Olive Second Baptist Zion Church of God in Christ of Resurrected Latter-Days AME CME --- in blackface.

Men who take on roles as female characters for the purposes of entertainment are nothing new and they’ve been handsomely rewarded for their efforts with our dollars.  Starting with Flip Wilson’s the devil made me do it “Geraldine” and in recent years Martin Lawrence’s “Big Mama’s House,” Shawn and Marlon Wayans’ “White Chicks,” Eddie Murphy’s “Norbit,” and Tyler Perry’s popular character “Madea.”  With the exception of “White Chicks,” all are Black men dressed in drag as Black women.  The exception is the Wayans brothers, who flipped the script and took on the roles of two white women.

What’s the difference between a Black man in drag and a white man in blackface when both are depicting a Black woman?

Some have argued that Black Americans should not complain about Knipp’s character Shirley Q. Liquor because we turn a blind eye towards Black actors who also perform in questionable roles.

Dogging Sistas

By Ed Wiley III, BET.com Staff Writer

Charles Knipp is making a mint dissing sistahs. The self-described “fat, White, gay man” blackens his face, dons a nappy wig and lathers on the ruby-red lipstick; he ghettoizes his lingo, making it noticeably more “ignunt,” and becomes his popular alter-ego, Shirley Q. Liquor, “an illiterate welfare mother with 19 kids who guzzles malt liquor and drives a Caddy.”

And all across America – in gay night clubs in Memphis and Miami, and comedy events, parades and drag shows from New York and Atlanta to San Jose, Calif. – Shirley Q. is in demand. He’s also a regular in New Orleans, performing in venues that are in the shadows of the trailers where displaced hurricane victims still live.

But this week, as Americans of all races and genders highlight the contributions that women have made to the world, some activists are working to bring an end to an act they say is demeaning and just plain mean-spirited. It’s not as if African-American women, who already suffer from the double-whammy of being Black and female in a racist and sexist society, need an extra slap from Shirley Q. Liquor, says Jasmyne Cannick, a Los-Angeles-based community leader, who regularly challenges Knipp’s brand of humor.

Drumbeat: Pam's House Blend, The Bilereco Project, and BET.com

PAM'S HOUSE BLEND - A lot of the opining in defense of SQL comes from people who don't have to live down the stereotypes EVERY DAY perpetrated by acts like this.

I thank heavens every day for someone like Oprah Winfrey, an example of black women that the dominant culture can see that shatters the backwards, poisonous stereotypes that exist out there. And as we know, even she, with more money than god, still has to deal with racism based on the stereotypes.

I still encounter people surprised at my intelligence or my ability to speak English instead of Ebonics because the stereotypes precede me. This is especially true if I've only talked with the person over the phone (like a vendor or business colleague) and when I meet them, it's clear from the reaction that they had a different perception of what I was supposed to look like (i.e. white). Amusing and sad at the same time.  READ MORE...

The Bilerico Project - One thing I've noted in our ongoing struggle in the United States to overcome our negative past in terms of race relations is we aren't speaking the same language.

Yes, we all speak our version of English here in the Estados Unidos, but Jasmyne Cannick's recent February 27 guest post points out one of the fundamental problems in erasing and eradicating racism in not only the GLBT community, but the country as well.

Blacks and Whites have different definitions and perceptions of what racism is. I'm focusing on this issue from the Black-White perspective because the drama between us predates the founding of this country, and I will leave it to Latino/a's, Asians and other people of color to speak for their own groups.  READ MORE...

BET.com - Black Women Deserve Better...Black People Deserve Better.  READ MORE...

Update: EXXOTICA Miami Beach Says It's On With the Show and San Jose Gay Pride

In a written statement to The Bev Smith Show, the organizers of EXXOTICA Miami Beach said its on with the show for Shirley Q. Liquor.  Knipp is scheduled to perform there April 17-18, 2008.  TAKE ACTION HERE.

A San Jose Gay Pride festival organizer claims that Knipp isn't booked to perform at their pride.  However, a request for a written statement to that effect as well as assurance that the Pride organizers would work with the community to make sure that Knipp wasn't booked to perform at one of the surrounding public venues has not happened. 

Knipp has performed in previous years in San Jose during Gay Pride Week and has supporters there and listed San Jose Gay Pride Week as one of his upcoming venues.

San Jose Gay Pride Week is June 14-15, 2008.

Activists Launch National Campaign to Ban Racist Blackface Minstrel Shows Which Degrade Black Women

National Black Radio Show “The Bev Smith” Dedicates Three-Hour Broadcast to Campaign to Ban Shirley Q. Liquor

(Los Angeles, CA) – Today, in honor of Women’s History Month and African-American women, activists launched BanShirleyQLiquor.com in an attempt to call attention to Charles Knipp, a self-described forty-five-year-old, fat, gay white man that performs nationwide as his alter ego character Shirley Q. Liquor.  Knipp describes Liquor as being “an illiterate welfare mother with nineteen kids who guzzles malt liquor and drives a Caddy.”  The character is favorite among his core audience whom Knipp described in Rolling Stone Magazine as being “gay men, their moms, and rednecks.”  While in blackface as Liquor, Knipp’s speaks in Ebonics and makes comments like “axe your mamma how she durrin” and misuses words like “ignunt.” 

Knipp’s is also known for mocking the Black American holiday Kwanzaa and uses Black faces to make fun of stereotypical sounding Black names in a music video entitled, “Who Is My Baby’s Daddy” where his character Shirley Q. Liquor tries to recollect the names of her "chirrun," “…Cheeto, Orangello, Chlamydia, and Kmartina...”

National Black Radio Show Joins Efforts to Ban Shirley Q. Liquor

JOIN NATIONALLY SYNDICATED TALK RADIO HOST BEV SMITH, AMERICAN URBAN RADIO NETWORKS AND PROMINENT FIGURES IN AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE AS THEY BROADCAST NATIONALLY IN THE EFFORT TO END THE INSULTING AND DEGRADING “BLACKFACE” PERFORMANCE OF “COMEDIAN” CHARLES KNIPP.

MONDAY, MARCH 3, 2008
FROM 8:12—10PM EASTERN
ON “THE BEV SMITH SHOW”

Select Radio Affiliates:
WAMO-AM (Pittsburgh)
WVON (Chicago)
WAOK (Atlanta)
WAAW (Augusta)

LISTEN ONLINE