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A young, black, professional, Spelman College and UNC Law grad, and soon-to-be-mother who practices law in the Chicago suburbs.

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Black Minstrel Show Protest

January 29th, 2007 • Related • Filed Under

A coalition of black community organizations in Los Angeles have succeeded in forcing the cancellation of a comedy act featuring a white gay comedian who performs in blackface and denigrates African Americans.

Charles Knipp, a white gay comic whose jokes are lost on the African American community performs in blackface and stands accused of portraying negative stereotypes of black Americans. Protestors criticized Knipp for depicting African American women as : “Being on welfare, living in the projects, illiterate, shoplifting sexually promiscuous mothers who don’t know who their children’s fathers are.”

On top of that, Knipp, who goes by the stage name of ‘Shirley Liquor’ is accused of mocking Kwanzaa and likening sexually transmitted diseases to traditional African American names. The drag queen was due to appear at the Factory Nightclub in West Hollywood, but following the outcry from the African American community who sent faxes and emails and telephoned in protest, the organizers cancelled the show.

Click here to read more on the story. You can also sign an online petition to ban Shirley Liquor if you are tired of the misrepresentation of Blacks by people like Charles Knipp.

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There Are 2 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by JC on 31 January 2007:

    So, when he first came up with the idea to do this, who was there? I mean, who said “dude, GREAT idea!” I really wish I could been a fly on the wall when he made that announcement…

  2. Comment by Fredric on 31 January 2007:

    Somehow I get the feeling this was one of those drunk Borat nights of ‘you know what would be awesome?’

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