Shirley speaks out over Dirty Bingo firing

Mike Sholars
Features and Opinions Editor

“I don’t apologize for anything I do: it’s Dirty Bingo.”
Shirley, the former host of Underground’s Dirty Bingo, an event traditionally held on the last Tuesday of each month, was fired after a York student’s family complained about comments Shirley made during an Oct. 26 show.
“Before [Dirty Bingo] started, I noticed [a female student] was wearing an outfit […] it had black and red wings on it,” said Shirley, an entertainment persona, referring to the Oct. 26 incident.
“I said to [the girl] ‘you look like a maxi pad with wings!’”
Shirley repeated the joke once she was on stage, and gave the female student a prize for being one of the few attendees who wore a costume to the Halloween-themed event.
According to Shirley, later in the show another woman attempted to get Shirley’s attention from the side of the stage.
“She said things like ‘you’ve gotta be careful what you say to people,’” said Shirley. The woman turned out to be the mother of the student Shirley made the joke about earlier in the evening.
Shirley said later that week Scott Jarvis, executive director of the Student Centre and the Underground, called Shirley to get her side of the story. She said that on Nov. 4, after her conversation with Jarvis, she was fired.
The Student Centre is planning on replacing Shirley with York Federation of Students (YFS) employee Osmel Meynes, the YFS programming and events coordinator.
“I would do Dirty Bingo [at the Student Centre] again, but I wouldn’t apologize,” said Shirley. When asked if he would invite Shirley back to the Underground, Jarvis said he would not.
Shirley is currently considering performing at other venues at York, such as Blueberry Hill or Hoops.
“I think I’ve only met [Jarvis] once in the eight years I’ve been [at York],” noted Shirley. “And I don’t think he’s ever stayed for Dirty Bingo.”
Jarvis said in a Nov. 23 email “I understand the nature of students complaining about feeling intimidated and uncomfortable in our establishment. That is not the type of atmosphere we want in the Student Centre.”
Shirley added she believes the explicit content of her show is well publicized on promotional materials, and on her website.
Jarvis responded to inquiries about the warnings, saying “The issue is not the content. It’s the tactics used to convey explicit content.
Shirley also compared her show to similar adult fare at York, such as the XXX hypnotist shows hosted by Tony Lee. She said that there are “worse things” happening on campus in terms of entertainment.
“I have never received a single student complaint about Tony Lee,” said Jarvis when asked about the comparison.
Shirley said out of all the universities at which she’s hosted Dirty Bingo, she’s received complaints only at York.
“It happened before,” she said, referring to the student complaints in 2008 when she was asked to host Frosh Bingo for Founders College.
Shirley said she could not explain why York’s student populace has been the only one to complain.
“I always thought the University of Toronto was a little uptight, but they were cool with [my show].”