Blackface performer plans fundraiser for 6 indicted officers

Among the list of entertainers on the invitation to the fundraiser is one “Bobby “Al Jolson” Berger – out of retirement”, which as Lemieux noted is one of the stranger ways “to raise funds for a group of police implicated in the death of a black man”.

A fundraising event for the six police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray will feature a blackface performance by a 77-year-old former cop. “As an event venue, it has not been the practice of Michael’s Eighth Avenue to pre-approve entertainment that is planned as part of a contracted event”.

Berger said 610 tickets had been sold for the November 1 fundraiser at $45 each.

Berger said there were no racist overtones in his performances and that African American audiences enjoyed his act.

After news of his plan spread widely on Wednesday, drawing criticism, the event venue announced that it had canceled the performance.

Berger’s performances featured him in blackface impersonating Al Jolson, the legendary Broadway star and actor whose acts often featured him singing in blackface.

After he rejoined the force in 1986, Berger said, he was given a desk, but was denied a gun and a badge, and given nothing to do.

“I’ve been through what they’re going through and I know they need the help”, he said.

When asked why he has to do the fundraiser in black face, Berger said, “I’m not a racist guy”. This policy will be carefully and thoughtfully reviewed.

But an attorney for the Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police says officers don’t support it. Tessa Hill-Aston, president of the Baltimore branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, says the idea is “very distasteful”.

He said, “It reflects a tone deafness in the times in which we live and the circumstances surrounding this case and relationships and interaction between law enforcement and the community”.

Berger could not be reached for comment after the event was cancelled, and it’s unclear what will be done for ticket holders. If you are going to play Liberace, you better have on a jacket that looks like it costs 100 thousand dollars.

Gray was killed in April after suffering a spinal cord injury while being held in police custody in the back of a van.

That organizer, former police officer Bobby Berger, 67, was canned by the department in the 1980s after complaints from the NAACP over his previous acts.

His death led to nationwide protests and the indictment of the six officers once it was determined his death had in fact been a homicide. He settled more than a decade later for $200,000.

All six have pleaded not guilty.

In her remarks, Mosby used her family of Boston police officers as a shield against critics who said she could not fairly prosecute the case.