pantryslut

As many of you know by now, Fox News is running a story referencing Perverts Put Out, the sex-themed spoken word event that has been around for over a decade now and that I currently co-curate with Simon Sheppard and Carol Queen. Fox News is insinuating that government stimulus funds were funneled through the National Endowment for the Arts to pay for the production of our show(s) and/or to pay our performers directly.

This is an out-and-out lie. And make no mistake, that lie is deliberate and intentional.

Perverts Put Out has never taken any government money. It has never paid its performers, either - because it has always been a benefit, first for the publisher Black Books, now for the Center for Sex and Culture. Our performers donate their time.

Perverts Put Out rents space from CounterPULSE a few times a year. CounterPULSE has, apparently, received funds from the NEA both recently and in the past, but to be honest, yesterday is the first time Simon, Carol, or I even knew about that.

Let us be clear: PPO merely rents from CounterPULSE. We give them money, not vice-versa.

But don't be surprised at this mistake. There are plenty more where that came from. The Fox News story didn't even bother to check the most basic of facts. Like, for example, we're not a weekly revue; we perform roughly four times a year. They obviously couldn't tell what sort of show we did, so they guessed (orgies, maybe) - for the record, we're primarily a spoken-word event. They didn't bother to contact Simon, Carol, or myself at all.

Funny that. If they had, they would have realized that there was no story here at all. But instead of killing a juicy if factually incorrect story about Perverted! Sex! In! San! Francisco! Funded! With! Your! Tax! Dollars!, they ran with the lies.

Consider this a needed corrective.

Simon Sheppard just posted this comment on some conservative's blog. I think I may swoon.

"As the guiding spirit behind Perverts Put Out!, let me point out that we rent a multi-disciplinary performance space (which may receive some fed funds, I have no idea, though I wish you guys would settle on whether to demonize the NEA or the stimulus package). Four or five times a year, we rent the space. Big deal. It's truly pathetic to see the GOP moralizers - fresh from tapping its foot in a Minneapolis restroom, patronizing the D.C. Madam, and hiking the Appalachian Trail - trying to reignite the culture wars. Jeez, you people are getting really desperate. What next? Accuse us of hiring illegal aliens to perform? And anyway, the clear implication of Fox's report was just plain untrue - PPO! receives not a dime of federal funds. Seems to me I remember something about bearing false witness in the Bible?"

He also posted a personal statement on the matter here. It made me giggle.