At Caveat, “Coming Out” Sans Caveat
Dubbs Weinblatt launches podcast’s second season in living color
BY BOBBY HANKINSON
Gay City News’ podcast
“Thank You For Coming
Out” kicked off its
second season with a
live celebration Saturday at Caveat
on the Lower East Side.
Featuring an intimate chat with
actress Shakina (she/ her), best
known for her work on “Difficult
People” and “Transparent ‘Musicale
Finale,’” the evening was its
own musical event with several
performances from the show’s
past guests.
Host Dubbs Weinblatt (they/
them) and Shakina dove into
Shakina’s coming out, her early
work as a performance artist,
and her experience working on
“Transparent” over the course of a
40-minute candid — and, let’s just
say it, at times hilarious — conversation.
In addition to the live interview,
Special guest Shakina (“Diffi cult People,” “Transparent ‘Musicale Finale’”) discusses one of her coming
out stories with Dubbs Weinblatt.
several previous podcast guests
presented original music, including
a live performance of the
show’s theme, a comedic ode to the
risks of hook-up apps by comedian
➤ K’SISAY SADIKI, from p.14
My mom did have a room where she kept old
Panther newspapers and articles. I would look
at them but they made me
DAY: A few years later, from Cuba, Assata
published her autobiography. In it she wrote
about your dad — and you.
SADIKI: A lot of my friends on the block read
Assata’s book. They said, “K’Sisay, how come
you didn’t tell me you’re related? What’s your
story?”
I’d say, “I don’t want to talk about that.” Because
I felt shame. Yeah, I felt like I was living
two lives.
DAY: Tell me about your dad.
SADIKI: He worked for the telephone company.
He was a man of the community. He loves
storytelling and reading, especially science fiction,
parallel worlds and stuff. He used to show
up in his truck and gather the kids around
him, “Come on, everybody…” and he’d tell the
kids these stories. They were all mimes amazement
“Wow!” He exposed me to Octavia Butler,
like “Wild Seed”: “K’Sisay! I got this book…”
I moved to Brooklyn in fourth grade, but
my father and I always lived close. He and my
mother could never live together but he always
PHOTO MARY DORN
Jay Malsky (they/ them), and a romantic
duet between “Orange Is
the New Black” actors Emily Tarver
(she/ her) and Vicci Martinez
(she/ her).
lived in the neighborhood. I had a key. He just
liked life simple. He loved his books. He’d be into
Apple gadgets, the latest stereo system.
DAY: So you grew up, went to school, got a
job, got married, had kids. You’re in your 30s,
and suddenly, in 2002, your father is arrested
for child abuse. Then he’s charged with the
1971 killing of a police officer.
SADIKI: By now, he’s a grandfather, thinking
about retiring. I couldn’t believe this was
happening. To see my father in the newspapers
— humiliated that way. Even for people who
support the Panthers, to question whether that
was true. I think that the woman he’s been seeing
set him up.
DAY: The molestation charge didn’t stick, but
it must have made it hard for people to support
his case. Your dad was convicted in 2003 of the
shooting.
SADIKI: Even though they had no direct evidence.
They tried to get him to turn Assata in,
but of course he wouldn’t. I went to see him at
court in Brooklyn.
My dad kept looking at me so very apologetic.
He just put his head down, like, “I’m so sorry
this is happening.” The kids, we were all there.
Then my mom and I went to see him at the
Brooklyn House of Detention. I had not been in
PODCASTS
More than $350 from the evening’s
proceeds will be donated to
New Alternatives, a resource center
dedicated to the care and wellbeing
of lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, queer, and HIV-positive
homeless youth in New York
City.
The entire evening will be released
for download this Thursday,
January 30, as the second season
premiere of the podcast.
Among the upcoming episodes
includes an interview with New
York Times-bestselling author and
“Making Gay History” podcast
host Eric Marcus (he/ him).
All of the first season — including
interviews with “Jagged Little
Pill” Broadway star Lauren Patten
(she/ her) and “The Good Fight”
actor Sarah Steele (she/ her) — is
also available for download.
Visit podcasts.schnepsmedia.
com or wherever fine podcasts are
available.
that situation for years, going through security,
being patted down. I never got to see him again
in New York.
It was more devastating for me as an adult
to see him in prison than it was when I was a
child. I was in denial. That took years to deal
with.
DAY: Your dad is now turning 67 at the Augusta
Medical State Facility in Georgia. Tell me
about your last visit.
SADIKI: I visited him last summer. It was
wonderful to see him. But he has serious health
issues and the conditions there are horrible.
DAY: What, above everything, have you
learned from your father?
SADIKI: Strength. Humility. He’s my hero.
He made a commitment to deal with injustice.
He was that person even before he joined the
Black Panther Party.
I couldn’t always talk about this. I’ve been silent
for a long time. Now, I am his voice. I may
not be able to physically see him, but he’s with
me always. I dream about him and he’s free — I
never dream about him in prison.
OK, he’s free – but he’s wanted. Laughs. I’m
always looking for an Underground Railroad.
“Come on, Daddy, we can go here!”
But he’s always free.
GayCityNews.com | January 30 - February 12, 2020 15
/GayCityNews.com
