ACTIVISTS LAUNCH
NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO BAN
RACIST BLACKFACE MINSTREL SHOWS
WHICH DEGRADE BLACK WOMEN
PRESS RELEASE
March 3, 2008
MEDIA CONTACT Jasmyne Cannick
jcannick@sbcglobal.net
Charles Knipp performing his character Shirley Q. Liquor in San Francisco's Castro District
Three-Hour Broadcast to Raise Awareness of 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 speaks in Ebonics and makes comments like "axe your mamma how she durrin" and misuses words like "ignunt."
Knipp 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--"
"Imus may have called Black women 'nappy-headed ho's,' but it's Knipp who routinely tries to bring that image to life onstage as Shirley Q. Liquor," commented journalist Jasmyne Cannick. "The hypocrisy is sickening. Isaiah Washington was unable to escape the wrath of gay America, but Charles Knipp, a white gay man, can perform a blackface minstrel and be rewarded by gay Americans to the tune of $90k annually. Someone has some explaining to do. This has gone on for far too long under the radar."
National Black talk radio "The Bev Smith Show" on American Urban Radio Networks (AURN) will dedicate its entire Monday, March 3 (7p-10p ET) broadcast to the campaign to ban Shirley Q. Liquor and spread the word about his upcoming performances. "The Bev Smith Show" can be heard in Sacramento, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Augusta, Chicago, and more. AURN is the only African-American owned network radio company in the United States. It is the largest network reaching urban America, with more than 200 weekly shows, AURN reaches an estimated 20 million listeners.
"We believe that if Mr. Knipp is a true talent, he can find plenty of folks who look just like him to present in 3-dimensional caricature," read a statement from Smith's camp. "If he really is funny, then he can find more than enough insulting and stereotypical elements of his own group, their background, and their culture, to mock. HE DOES NOT NEED OURS. As it is said, we have enough problems.
"As if injury could further be added to this insult, a recent posting to his website allegedly included the headshot of well-respected journalist/activist Jasmyne Cannick--a woman who daily responds to and fights for the rights and dignity of persons of color and the LGBT communities--edited atop the body of a naked and hefty-breasted woman.
Understand this, please: One of our journalists has been insulted. Would Charles Knipp have done this to an AP journalist? Would the head of Mike Wallace or Cokie Roberts or Jorge Ramos be used this way without response from their respective communities? We think not."
Knipp is scheduled to perform in Miami Beach at EXXXOTICA Miami Beach April 17th and 18th, San Jose Gay Pride Week June 14th and 15th, Memphis, Tennessee, at gay nightclub Backstreet Memphis and in New Orleans Labor Day Weekend, just blocks from where displaced African-Americans are still living in trailers. With the exception of the Miami Beach show, all are gay venues.
For more information, please visit www.banshirleyqliquor.com.
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