Black leather group wants bar manager fired over racist puppet show

The midwest chapter of ONYX, a national organization for men of color who enjoy leather, has issued a list of demands to the Chicago leather bar Touché for hosting a racist puppet show during the bar’s 45th anniversary.

Additionally, a town hall to discuss the show was canceled at the last minute, and though the puppeteer said he has performed his act for decades with “rave reviews,” a 1980 Washington Post review of his show also called it “racist” and “witless.”

White queer puppeteer Jerry Halliday offended the audience with his November 1 performance featuring a poor, Black woman puppet called “Sista Girl.” He used a “Blaccent” to voice her, lifted her dress to reveal her “afro puff,” and swore repeatedly at audience members who vocally criticized his act.

Video clips of his act were widely condemned on social media and in the LGBTQ press. In response, he issued a non-apology and pledged to retire the offending puppet.

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ONYX Midwest issued a statement condemning Halliday’s act for its racism, misogyny, and sexism, and for “reinforcing old, demoralizing, discriminatory, dehumanizing, and unspeakably damaging stereotypes.”

“We certainly would never expect to experience something so devastating in the year 2022, especially in our home bar,” the group wrote in a statement posted to Twitter.

The group condemned the bar management’s not recognizing the performance’s harm and stopping it. It also condemned the bar patrons who sided with Halliday when he asked how many of them wanted his act’s critics to “Shut the f**k up.”

ONYX Midwest announced that it would immediately remove its insignia from the bar and no longer hold its monthly social events there. The group also revoked the bar manager’s honorary membership until he undergoes “educational activities.”

The group also said it would only resume its social nights at the bar once the venue’s management established an “event-review committee” made up of the bar’s diverse patronage, donated $3,000 to a person of color charity of ONXY Midwest’s choosing, terminated the current bar manager, and hired a replacement committed to creating an environment free of similarly discriminatory behavior.

The local Leather Archives & Museum had agreed to host a Wednesday evening town hall forum for community members to voice their concerns over Halliday’s act. However, the forum was postponed at the last minute after its moderator had a medical emergency, Block Club Chicago reported. The forum has not yet been rescheduled.

In Halliday’s non-apology for his act, he wrote, “I have been doing my show for 20 years for thousands of people of all races to standing ovations and rave reviews in the press.” But a recently unearthed 1980 Washington Post review of his show suggests otherwise.

“[Halliday’s] show was not only tasteless, it was also witless, lifeless and pointless,” the review said, calling his act a “stretched-out-summer-camp sketch” filled with “stupid and obvious characters.” The review also mentioned the show’s inclusion of “an insulting, racist stereotype of a black prostitute,” presumably Sista Girl.

While Halliday may have received rave reviews since then, it doesn’t sound like his act has changed much since 1980. No wonder one of his critical audience members at Touché bar commented, “Everyone in the crowd thinks this is a little weird for 2022.”

Queerty has reached out to Touché for comment, and we’ll update this post if we hear back.