Drag character Shirley Q. Liquor, played by white gay actor Chuck Knipp, has been called racist by critics, a charge Knipp vehemently disputes.
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Nov 19, 2004  |  By: DYANA BAGBY  | COMMENTS |   |  

Complaints about controversial drag queen Shirley Q. Liquor being slated to host the Divas Rock Atlanta concert resulted in pulling the character from the lineup, event organizers said this week.

Gay non-profit groups set to benefit from the Dec. 10 concert said they are pleased the performer, gay actor Chuck Knipp, was removed from the show and are now looking forward to the first-of-its-kind event for Atlanta.

Another host hasn’t been selected yet, said Samuel Palmer, who is organizing the event with Dixon Taylor.

The for-profit event at the Atlanta Civic Center — featuring 10 performers including headliner RuPaul, Deborah Cox, Martha Wash and Deborah Gibson — could raise enough money for organizers to donate between $5,000 to $10,000 to each of the six beneficiaries, according to some officials with the benefiting agencies.

But proceeds for the event’s beneficiaries — the Armorettes, Atlanta Lesbian Cancer Initiative, CHRIS Kids, Georgia Equality, In the Life Atlanta and P.A.L.S. — haven’t been determined since costs to produce the show continue to fluctuate, Palmer said.

He declined to comment on the expense of the event.

“A portion of the proceeds will be donated, but we won’t know the final numbers until we’re closer to the show. We do know we want to donate as much as possible,” Palmer said.

The Civic Center seats 4,600 people and organizers hope to sell out the show. Individual tickets range in price from $55 and $90, while VIP passes cost $200. As of this week, Palmer said about 50 percent of the tickets had been sold.

“This event started out of conversations of how our community is divided, how we segregate ourselves. We wanted to put on an event to bring our community together, to open our eyes so we can see that when we all work together, we can achieve a common goal,” Palmer said.

But the scheduled appearance of Shirley Q. Liquor upset some of the participating agencies who said the character is racist, derogatory and divisive.

“I know the purpose of the event is to try to bring the community together, but there is nothing about [Knipp’s] performance that brings people together,” said Linda Ellis, executive director of the Atlanta Lesbian Cancer Initiative.

“I believe this was just a mistake and ALCI made a mistake, too, by not researching Shirley Q. Liquor before,” Ellis said. “This idea is a good one and it should be good for Atlanta.”

Cutting edge comedy?
Knipp, a white gay man, performs in blackface as Shirley Q. Liquor, an uneducated southern black woman on welfare with 19 children. Knipp, who is from Mississippi, is a Quaker minister when not performing in drag.

Shirley Q. Liquor’s portrayal has drawn protests at gay clubs in New York and Boston. In 2002, during Knipp’s first visit to New York City, police arrived at a protest and closed the Chelsea bar View, fining the club $5,000 under a policy that allows them to shutter any nightclub deemed to be causing a public disturbance.

A month later in Boston, managers of the club Machine cancelled a show after hearing from city officials that a protest was being planned, the Boston Globe reported.

On Feb. 14, 2004, a smaller protest was held in front of the Slide nightclub in New York City, but Knipp’s show went on as scheduled.

After the 2002 protest in New York, RuPaul, a fan of Shirley Q. Liquor, posted a statement to her Web site defending Knipp.

“If Mr. Knipp was filled with hatred, my natural gut instinct wouldn’t allow me to enjoy his act,” the statement read. “When Chuck Knipp performs as Shirley Q, it’s very clear to me that he is paying a loving homage to the southern black women that he obviously grew up around.”

RuPaul would not comment for this story and was not aware of the controversy surrounding the Dec. 10 event, according to an assistant.

Knipp said in an e-mail interview that he is often protested by people who have not seen his show and, if they would sit through a performance, they would realize he is not racist.

“A comedian’s job is to make people see things a new way, to reveal unarticulated truths, and to provide entertainment. Cutting edge comedy with social commentary is not always safe, as Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Maher, Roseanne, Richard Pryor, Ali G, George Carlin ...