Big Freedia was forced to cancel a show in Hattiesburg, MS over the weekend after a Mississippi State Alcohol Beverage Control officer threatened to fine the club for violating an archaic code that prohibits certain sexual conduct at venues where alcohol is served.
The performance was scheduled to take place at The Dollar Box Showroom on Friday, February 12. Big Freedia, who has performed across Mississippi and throughout the world without incident, posted an apology on her Facebook page that reads:
“I would just like to apologize to all my fans in Mississippi for my show being cancelled tonight due to the state alcohol beverage control saying that my show violates some law out there when I have came numerous time to perform this is some twerkloose bulllshit and my team will be taking the necessary legal actions !! Once again I Love y’all Mtown stay strong fight for the Diva !!”
The show was called off after Dollar Box Showroom owner Ben Shemper got a call from an officer of the state’s Alcohol Beverage Control, who determined that Big Freedia’s performance might be in violation of some Mississippi state codes after watching a few videos on YouTube.
“They said the officers would be out in full force and I would be fined,” says Shemper, “And, while I hated to do it, I cannot risk suspension of my alcohol license so I had to cancel the show.”
Speaking with NOLA.com, Shemper added, “The word gyrating was in there. He made it sound like it was some kind of strip show or whatever.”
“It’s like the movie Footloose,” Big Freedia said in a press release. “It’s Twerkloose. It’s crazy to me that in 2016, we could have a situation like this on our hands.”
However, Mississippi Alcohol Beverage Control’s chief of enforcement, Rusty Hanna, told NOLA.com that his office did not cancel Big Freedia’s show. He did note that ABC may have have made Shemper aware of his duty to observe entertainment regulations that restrict nudity and sexual content, but said, “if they canceled, it was their own decision.”
Big Freedia’s co-manager Reid Martin told NOLA.com that he called ABC for an explanation after he heard the show was canceled. Reid claims that he spoke to an officer that told him he’d seen things in Big Freedia’s YouTube videos that “he believed were illegal in a place that serves alcohol in Mississippi.”
Big Freedia has confirmed that she and her legal team are looking into any potential rights violations that may have taken place in the city of Hattiesburg.
“Until then,” she explains, “I’m just sorry for the club owner who lost the money and to all my fans who bought tickets and were excited for a night of Big Freedia and my dancers.”
