Feeling left out of the Chicago bar fracas, Touché, Chicago's last remaining leather dive bar celebrated their 45th anniversary with an outdated minstrel show featuring a white comedian and his black puppet named Sista Girl. A bartender quit midshift, and others who expressed their feelings were laughed at by members of the audience who cheered this foolishness.
video clips at the link
Touche's response nearly a whole ass day later:
We Apologize
Greetings Friends
Last night at Touché’s 45th anniversary celebration, puppeteer Jerry Halliday included racist and transphobic puppets and jokes in his act. We deeply regret not vetting the entertainer prior to the event. We apologize for not reacting and stopping the show. People were harmed by his words. Racism and transphobia are wrong, we need to do better. Touché will continue to upgrade our awareness of and responses to racism, sexism and transphobia. We are currently exploring ways to address the harm was caused.
We have and will continue to work hard to make this space more welcoming to all people regardless of their racial, ethnic, sexual or gender identities. Your feedback is noted and appreciated if we are to make that a reality here. We could not have remained in business here for the past 45 years if that were not a core purpose of our business.
We are planning for a community gathering at the Leather Archives & Museum at 7pm next Wednesday November 9th where members of our community can express their concerns and help us explore ways to do a better job. We hope that you will allow us the opportunity to prove our resolve in going forward and not permit this one night to overshadow the service Touché has provided to our community for 45 years.
David Boyer
Help me not be an asshole. Fuck you.
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