Singer Amy Winehouse was laid to rest today in London. Her official cause of death awaits toxicology results, which will take 2-4 weeks. But this story from ABC News suggests that it may not have been a drug overdose, as many have assumed. Winehouse could have suffered a seizure caused by asthma or emphysema related to smoking, or an arrhythmia stemming from an eating disorder.
Regardless, one Instant Tea Reader is taking offense to a drag performance on Saturday at Woody’s in Dallas in which performers reportedly mocked Winehouse’s longtime battle with substance abuse. DV staffer Chance Browning happened to be at the show that night, and he captured the photo at right of a Winehouse impersonator lying face down on the stage. Instant Tea reader Robert L. Dee wrote the following of the performance:
On Saturday evening, June 23, 2011, some friends and I attended the Comedy Roast Benefit Show for SheGotta Mustache at Woody’s. For the most part the show was entertaining, but a certain part should have been left out. To make fun of anyone who has died the way Amy Winehouse did was just too much. As far as we were concerned it was insensitive and very offensive. For someone to dress up like her and lie face down on the stage and make light of her death was going way overboard. I chose to leave at that time not wanting to witness this act. Drug abuse is a big problem in this community and it often results in accidental overdoses. For a bar in this community to make fun of it is really thoughtless. Maybe I’m being a little thin-skinned about this but I have lost some good friends to drug abuse. How would the people who put on this show feel if someone who had just died of cancer or some other horrible disease were put on the floor face down and ridiculed about how she or he died? The management of Woody’s and the people who put on this show should apologize for that distasteful act and should put on a fund raiser for D.A.R.E.
Browning just ‘happened’ to be at Woody’s. Tear out the front page, Sheila! She rarely isn’t. I agree that the Winehouse bit was tasteless, but so is most drag. More often than not, the performers confuse vulgar with funny, when they’re two very different things. As for D.A.R.E, we know that’s about as effective as this particular drag bit was funny. Personally, I just say no to both.
Love that the Winehouse bit was the offensive part and not the Casey Anthony/Nancy Grace bit that came just before. Joan Rivers put it best when she talked about her mother’s blindness/deafness and her husband’s suicide. “If you can’t laugh about it, how the hell do you expect to get past it!”
If Amy Whinehouse had died of drug overdose I could see this being overly offensive… tasteless I could see Offensive??? expecially after releasing a song called rehab? and being so public about her drug use? However the autopsy came back inconclusive… There was no evidence of RECENT drug use in her system… and according to her security she wasnt partying that night…
Didn’t see the show and glad I didn’t. Gays ( and I’m one) have largely become as vile and heartless as those we accuse of being so to the gay community.
All for the sake of that extra ‘oomph’ in distaste or vulgarity to stay ahead in the competitive entertainment business.
I agree with the sentiments of that patron objecting to the using the tragic loss of Amy Winehouse as a show prop. It’s sickening but that’s the bullshit most have come to crave.
There are so many more important and critical issues to get offended over; to have an issue about drag performers is simply absurd. Comedy is the only arena where people usually hear the truth, and the truth is funny. Death is a reality of life for every single one of us and to not respect it is ignorant. Our culture needs to rise above the very low standards many in the gay community have set for themselves..consumed by pop-culture, sex, alcohol and glitter. Not everything that shines is bright. I’m not saying that anything is wrong with those things, but everything should be in it’s right place and we should care more about our relationships with each other and our role as human beings. And that’s my rant for the day 🙂
I think we can be clear that the Winehouse did not die of anything but her lifestyle choices. She dug her own grave and was loving every minute of it.Let the girl be commerarated at Woody’s , you know she would think it was fabulous! PS. I’m sorry i missed the Casey Anthony bit! I was watching poor little Caylie and being an all around bad nanny.
If I buy the farm in a bathroom stall performing a non-religious act on a gentleman I recently met or if I die in the arms or a rent boy, I HOPE AND PRAY that the queens of Oak Lawn will endulge in all the satirical material my early demise brings. If I die of an illness or in a huge explosion I want it all thrown out there for everyone to see. I believe it was the ancient Egyptians that believed to speak the name of the dead is to make them live again.
so I guess I will start dressing up as the many stages of HIV into full blown AIDS and start performing at drag shows – after all, according to most of the comments here, it wouldn’t be a bad or offensive thing to do…like you said, we all die, and if you can’t laugh it, then whats the point…BULLSHIT…I guarantee you that if I were to truly do that, you would all scream the same thing this person is, or a STRAIGHT comeian put in a segment making fun of the disease, there would be holy hell to pay – stop being so damn hipocritical, and you wonder why we can’t even get along as a community, how the hell do you ever expect to be accepted by anyone else.
Although I’m disgusted by the fact that this performance occurred, it’s even worse to read the comments above that condone the insensitive show. Here’s hoping that none of their loved ones are ever put in the same position. “There but by the grace of G-d go I.”
This was a comedy ROAST to raise money for a member of our community that is respected and loved. People were warned over and over if you get offended easily you should leave….Obviously Mr. Dee should have left and the focus could still be on a wonderful night that helped out a loved member of our community!
I was in attendace at this fundraiser, and it was all in fun and for a good cause. Like mentioned earlier, it was warned if you didn’t like it, to leave then. Yes the humor was tasteless, but, that was it’s PURPOSE! I personally feel it is a lot easier to deal with thing through humor than through criticism; something this John Wright who attended should understand. The show was a huge success, and for the most part, with the exception of apparently this negative-minded person, everyone enjoyed themselves.
Good Lord, people! Calm down. It was a drag show. The hallmark of excellent comedy and campy drag is “currency.” Hats off to this clever performer for her comedic timing! I heard this performance raised more money than any other, so obviously offended or not, the intended outcome was achieved, to raise more money for a good cause. When you record a song like “Rehab,” flaunt your substance abuse, and drop dead at 27 with an “inconclusive” autopsy, you’re setting yourself up for satire. Lighten up. Go call your Congressman about the Debt Ceiling debate or something that really matters! Just sayin’…