December 12, 2023
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Tabu Lounge and Sports Bar in the Gayborhood regularly host drag and burlesque performances. A show the bar promoted last Saturday included Palestinian performer Leila Delicious on the bill, until she was abruptly removed.
The polarizing discourse over the war in the Gaza Strip has touched multiple facets of Philadelphia culture, from academia at the University of Pennsylvania to restaurants with the protests at Goldie. This past weekend, the controversy extended to Philly nightlife, specifically at Gayborhood bar Tabu.
A show at Tabu last Friday evening advertised burlesque dancer Leila Delicious, a Palestinian performer currently based in Philadelphia, as one of the featured acts. But the bar stopped the performance and later that night, numerous Philly drag and burlesque performers took to social media to criticize Tabu for prohibiting Delicious from performing her set, which would have incorporated a sign that read "OUR GENERATION WILL FREE PALESTINE."
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PhillyVoice contacted Delicious, who on Tuesday said she declined to comment at this time, but according to a post on X, formerly Twitter, from performer Mew Ikki, Tabu had told Delicious that the bar did not want political commentary or performances about the events in Gaza.
Saturday morning, Tabu, which is at 254 S. 12th St., released a statement on social media. The post has since been deleted but it stated the bar "strongly condemns all forms of hate speech, including the recent display of a sign promoting genocide against Jews." Tabu claimed that the image circulating showing Delicious' sign lacked "full context," as it only showed one side, and the other "contains text targeting the Jewish community."
Many in the Philly drag and burlesque community continued to chastise Tabu on social media, sharing a picture of the other side of the sign and challenging Tabu's claim it was antisemitic. The text, which criticized President Joe Biden and mentions Israel through a pun, read: "BIDEN, DEMAND A CEASEFIRE / IF YOU SUPPORT GENOCIDE, You ISREAL DUMB!"
this is the sign in question, both sides. the statement given by @TabuPhilly is an outright lie given in an effort to backpedal as per usual for this establishment https://t.co/ymb3UtiCTG pic.twitter.com/51ftWKRr6E
— Mis-“Masc4Masc Enby”-fit (@TheDragMisfit) December 9, 2023
Critics of Tabu included Eric Jaffe, a Jewish drag queen based in Philly. "What (Tabu is) doing in the name of Judaism is absolutely disgraceful," she tweeted. Other local performers expressed solidarity with Delicious and proclaimed that they would no longer perform at Tabu or attend shows there.
Delicious, who began performing burlesque in Philly over a year ago, often uses the stage to express Palestinian queerness. After the initial outcry over Tabu's actions, the dancer shared videos of her previous Tabu performances, which often included political messages, on her Instagram story.
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In response to the criticism, Tabu's management deleted the original statement condemning Delicious and posted a longer statement Sunday afternoon. "While our initial decision to prevent a performer from addressing the Israel-Palestine conflict was made with the intention of fostering a positive environment, we now recognize that it had unintended consequences," the statement reads.
The social media post from Tabu, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment, went on to say that the decision was to ensure the "emotional safety" of everyone in the venue and that the establishment "may have misinterpreted the intention" of the sign, which did not promote genocide against Jewish people.
— TABU PHILADELPHIA (@TabuPhilly) December 10, 2023
The post includes an apology to Leila Delicious, who was not directly named in the statement, and ends by saying that management will reach out to her for an "open conversation." Both the apology post and the original condemnation by Tabu on Instagram and X had comments and replies turned off.
Despite the apology, criticism towards Tabu has continued from the local queer performance community for the initial statement and the subsequent backtracking. Philly drag queen Diva Baby announced on Tuesday afternoon that at least five performers, including herself, had dropped out of Tabu's next Drag Brunch performance.
