*After being slammed across social media and dubbed a “Modern-Day Minstrel Comedy,” it appears that many of the trailers for an alleged upcoming feature titled “Loqueesha” have been scrubbed from YouTube.
The film centers on a white bartender (played by Jeremy Saville who reportedly also wrote/directed) who disguises his voice as a stereotypical black woman’s to get a radio host job. The man, of course, lands the gig as Loqueesha.
One Twitter user summed up the plot perfectly:
A grown white man is a failure in life and fantasizes that his goals are easier to accomplish as a Black Woman. A double minority? It’s 2019 and they’re still using us as scapegoats.
Peep additional reactions to the film from Twitter users below.
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This Loqueesha garbage-(which is simply a continuation of the Amos & Andy, anti-Black minstrel tradition of systematic white supremacy) is further reason why Black Americans need reparations
— Tariq Nasheed ?? (@tariqnasheed) May 11, 2019
What in the blackface HELL is this?!!! —-> “Loqueesha is the hilarious and heartwarming story of Joe, an astute and underachieving Detroit bartender who values truth above everything” who “invents a larger-than-life black female personality named Loqueesha” https://t.co/e5W6TqVifE
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) May 10, 2019
This will definitely go over well in 2019. pic.twitter.com/UgaNE77p5T
— No Context Sean Mulvihill (@NotSPMulvihill) May 10, 2019
Here’s the official description of the film from PR firm October Coast:
“From Writer/Director Jeremy Saville, Loqueesha is the hilarious and heartwarming story of Joe, an astute and underachieving Detroit bartender who values truth above everything. When Joe finds out he needs to pay for his gifted son’s private school education, he submits an audition to a local radio station for his own talk therapy show. After he’s rejected, he invents a larger-than-life Black female personality named Loqueesha, who is hired sight unseen by the unwitting radio station owners. As Loqueesha’s star rises, Joe is increasingly challenged with keeping her identity a secret, maintaining his own sense of self and grappling with the often bizarre perceptions of an audience who have absolutely no idea who they’re talking, or listening, to. With a diverse cast of breakthrough actors, Loqueesha takes viewers on an unexpected and thought-provoking journey that challenges society’s—and our own—conventional beliefs about identity and perception.”
Via The Grapevine:
It was also pointed out, by Philly Voice among others, the the plot of the film resembles a controversy from 2016 when a Philadelphia sports radio station, 97.5 The Fanatic, had a regular caller named “Dwayne From Swedesboro,” who appeared to be African-American and spoke in an exaggerated dialect, often about his troubles with paternity suits. Per Crossing Broad, “Dwayne” turned out to be a fictional character, voiced by a white station employee, although the host of the show, Mike Missanelli, claimed to not know the truth. In addition, an African-American friend of the employee, on an at least one occasion, appeared at the station presenting himself as “Dwayne,” and the character even had its own Twitter account.
UPDATED: More evidence that #Loqueesha is just trolling: @SloFilmFest issues a statement that the “film” was never chosen or screened at its festival and the trailer uses its laurels “without permission” https://t.co/IjXboZhlZb pic.twitter.com/wVKwesd1xw
— Shadow And Act (@shadowandact) May 12, 2019
The trailer claims the film was selected for the 2019 San Luis Obispo Film Festival, but the festival’s website does not list it among 2019 selections. Organizers have also issued a statement about “Loqueesha” using its laurels in the trailer:
“In regards to the trailer for the film “Loqueesha”, this film was never selected, screened, or given an award at our festival. The SLO Film Fest laurels were taken without permission and we are currently working to have them removed,” the statement read.
“Loqueesha” will supposedly hit theaters July 12.
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