That year, Berlin had its moment of reckoning. In June 2020, popular white drag queen T Rex was removed from Roscoe’s Tavern and Berlin Nightclub after public allegations from Black queer people that accused her of discriminating against Black performers, according to news reports from Block Club Chicago and Chicago Magazine. T Rex posted an apology on her Instagram page in June 2020.
The revelations that came from that moment pushed Berlin to make changes and shake up its team, Stoole said, including adding someone to the team that could bring in talent that had previously been locked out under T Rex’s tenure. Stoole’s new role is a direct result of what happened in 2020.
“It spurred a lot of change inside this one bar, but I think it did a lot for the community and the Black queer community at large across the country, at least started a conversation,” Stoole said.
As for what people can expect to see from Berlin in the coming months, Stoole said big things are coming, such as collaborations with other queer musical artists and performers from Chicago. She is also thrilled to usher in more Black voices at Berlin.
Though she couldn’t go into specifics about future events and programming, Stoole said people in the city should be paying attention to Chicago Black queer creatives such as Thair, a singer-songwriter, Bambi Banks-Couleé, a drag performer and actor, and Vincent Martell, a filmmaker, director and the founder and CEO of Vam Studio.
“There’s a new spirit and a new feeling in the entire place. I just want to continue to keep encouraging that and pushing that forward and keep highlighting marginalized voices, especially Black voices in this community, as much as I can,” Stoole said.
Stoole will be hosting a special Black History Month Drag show featuring Black performers at Berlin on Saturday, Feb. 26. Doors open at 10:00 p.m and the show starts at 11:00 p.m. Click here for more details.