Blue Moon Bar canceled its open stage after death threats flooded in over a drag performer’s blackface tribute to Tim Curry.
The Pittsburgh gay bar, which bills itself the “Friendliest Gay Bar in Pittsburgh,” pulled the plug on performances after images from a Sept. 23 event went viral and sparked furious backlash online. The performer had attempted to portray Hexxus, the villain from 1992’s animated “FernGully: The Last Rainforest,” a character voiced by Curry, who died in August.
Fellow drag artist Pinapple Honeydew tore into the act in an Instagram post that gained wide attention. “How this person was even allowed to step on stage wearing this is beyond me,” she wrote. “This is actual disgusting, racist behavior being given a stage to perform and no one thinking twice about it.”
Honeydew, noting Curry’s standing as an LGBTQ+ icon, questioned the creative choices behind the performance. “What happened to just wearing a black outfit,” she fumed. “Out of all of Tim Curry’s iconic characters, you HAD to do this one??”
She continued her critique in the same post: “And you HAD to do blackface in order to portray a character no one was going to recognize anyway??? F–king insane.”
The bar’s owners posted a statement to Facebook on Sept. 29, nearly a week after the performance, writing, “We were just made aware yesterday that this happened last week,” Management said they had not been present during the show; two guest hosts who do not typically run the open stage were overseeing the event.
The guest hosts “somehow didn’t realize at the time what was happening,” the post stated, though the bar added they “aren’t excusing their behavior.” The management insisted they were “horrified” and “blindsided” by what transpired.
“Whatever the intent, blackface is racist and harmful and it is never acceptable. We are sorry that it happened in our bar,” the bar wrote. The post also extended apologies “to anyone who has been offended or triggered by pictures shared of this performance or to anyone who unfortunately witnessed it.”
The following day, Sept. 30, Blue Moon Bar announced on Facebook that it was canceling that week’s open stage. “The bar and tonight’s host have received too many death threats for us to feel comfortable putting on the show this evening,” the post explained.
Management took additional steps to prevent similar incidents, posting a handwritten sign on the performer’s dressing room that read: “Absolutely NO Preformances Based on Race, Ethicity, or Nationality (that is not your own) Will Be TOLERATED!!!”
The performer at the center of the controversy, who has not been publicly identified, issued a statement to QBurgh acknowledging the fallout. “My attempt for accuracy in a cosplay caused an egregious error that resulted in harm to a community I love and care for,” they said.
The drag artist expressed a desire to face consequences for the act, stating, “I want to be held accountable” and “want to make good on my efforts to right this wrong.” They apologized “for the harm caused to the community, the hosts, and the patrons.”
“Intent does not matter when it comes to the effects of what’s been done,” the performer told the publication.
The incident comes as LGBTQ+ venues navigate intense scrutiny from within their own communities over perceived missteps. Last month, Last Ditch, a lesbian bar in Greenfield, Massachusetts, faced its own firestorm after dropping COVID mask requirements for a single night to boost struggling business, drawing reactions critics labeled extreme including one person hoping the bar got “firebombed.”
Blue Moon Bar has not indicated when its open stage will resume.