(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- For 45 years, a North Side bar has been a safe space for Chicago’s leather community, until it came under fire recently from some in that community.
Now, the bar owner says it’s become a vendetta.
What lit the torch of controversy at the bar Touché was a puppet show featuring a Black female puppet operated by a white man.
There were accusations of racism and calls from some for the bar manager to be fired.
Chuck Rodocker, who opened Touché 45 years ago, says yes, mistakes were made. But he says the complaints are “overwrought.”
“The majority of this is a person or persons’ vendetta against the bar,” he said. “Not that mistakes didn’t happen with that act’s material, apparently. But I do believe that it’s certainly being blown out of proportion.”
Some of the mainstays at Touché are members of a group called Onyx, whose website says they are “men of color who enjoy the leather lifestyle.”
They are demanding the manager be fired.
Rodocker indicated that’s not going to happen. Rodocker says it’s important to keep the context of the bar’s history in mind.
“The bar has been burned out. We’ve had rocks and bottles thrown at us over the years, even arson attempts,” he said. “So, for somebody to complain about a half-an-hour act of free entertainment, I kind of put that in perspective.”
He adds: “We’re hurt as much as anybody else is hurt. We’re hurt because people are hurt.”
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