(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has referred to his louder political detractors as “carnival barkers,” and the people of the circus and carnival cultures don’t like it.
“The din of a crisis,” Pritzker said in his State of the State message this week, “is when a carnival barker’s shout becomes a whisper soft enough to find the ears of the sick or worried or grieving or scared.”
Lee Stevens, past president of the International Independent Showmen’s Association, suggests the term “barker” is derogatory.
“They’ve always been referred to in the profession as talkers — not barkers,” he said.
Also defending the honor of circus performers and carnival workers is Amancay Kugler of Chicago. She uses the lyra, which is a hoop strung high in the air.
She recalled how President Obama referred to Donald Trump as carnival barker.
“Which was very distressing for real carnival workers to be compared to that man," she said.
Stevens, a retired monkey trainer, describes himself as the kid who really did run away from home to join the circus. He said the negative view of circuses and carnivals and their trappings is a “dime novel” stereotype.
And don’t get Kugler started calling someone a clown.
"Clowns are very hardworking people,” she said. “Honestly, I've done clowning workshops. It was the hardest thing I've ever done, and I routinely hang from one elbow twenty feet in the air.”
Kugler is organizing the Chicago Circus and Performing Arts Festival in April.
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