Rod 2.0 Exclusive: Dismissal, Lawsuit and Investigations Prompt Cancellation of NYC Black Pride

Only one day before it was scheduled to begin, New York City's popular black gay pride function, Pride in the City, has canceled events amidst a dramatic upheaval at its sponsoring agency, the Brooklyn-based& ; HIV/AIDS group People of Color in Crisis (POCC). Rod 2.0 has exclusive details on the last-minute event cancellation and firing of former executive director Michael Roberson—including a lawsuit just filed against POCC, alleged financial improprieties, state and federal investigations, and, a possible possible criminal investigation.

Pride in the City (PITC) parties and official events were supposed to kick off tonight. As recently as Tuesday, vendors sent emails promoting official events, such as Friday's much-anticipated Blackout Arts Festival which was scheduled to host the New York City premiere of Derrick Briggs' new film Finding Me, and, a round table discussion featuring writer/blogger Clay Cane and Terrance Dean, author of Hiding in Hip Hop. However, yesterday afternoon an unexpected email blast from POCC said, "Due to events beyond the control of the events organizers, the Blackout Arts Festival of Pride in the City has been cancelled." The email also cryptically reported "Michael Roberson is no longer Executive Director of People of Color in Crisis." The parties scheduled over the weekend will continue, but, most all of the POCC-sponsored events, such as the BlacKout Arts Festival, will not occur.

"I was shocked," Terrance Dean tells Rod 2.0. The former MTV executive is the author of the hot, new behind the scenes tell-all Hiding in Hip Hop, which blows the lid off of the down-low and the entertainment industry. Dean was scheduled to sit on a panel on Friday and says organizers re-assured him the event would proceed as planned and only learned of the upheaval last night. "I heard about the recent cancellation of black pride in Los Angeles," he tells Rod 2.0, and "never thought it could happen" in the nation's largest city. "This is one reason why we are looking for leadership in the black gay community."

This has been a disappointing season for black gay prides. In July, the official At the Beach Los Angeles Black Pride was canceled amidst allegations of financial mismanagement. Organizers in Seattle recently canceled their black gay pride function. Chicago has two competing "official" black gay pride sponsors, and, one of the officers of In the Life Atlanta was recently accused of embezzlement.

Roberson is seen at left with Gary English, the former longtime POCC executive director. (Photo via Can We Be Frank) Although the official POCC communique says Roberson resigned, sources tell Rod 2.0 Roberson was fired earlier this week amidst escalating legal and financial problems. One source close to PITC tells Rod 2.0 their associates were "warned" weeks ago "not to participate" by sources in POCC.

Roberson's dismissal comes after a mass resignation of four members from the Brooklyn-based POCC's board of directors who protested the boards refusal to fire Roberson. The organization is reportedly being investigated by state, federal and local authorities—including the Centers for Disease Control and state health department for allegedly not providing HIV/AIDS prevention, as well as the state attorney general for possible tax violations. (For a detailed discussion of the allegations, listen to the July 1 edition of Serve the Kids Radio here. ) However, an email obtained by Rod 2.0 written by Frank Leon Roberts, the young New York City-based black gay activist, critic and a recent POCC hire of Roberson's, makes no mention of the agency's mounting legal problems. Roberts' email slams the POCC board of directors and calls their action "a truly unscrupulous, selfish, and tasteless move." Roberts is a doctoral candidate at New York University; the email was sent from his NYU email address, not from an official POCC server.

Ironically, Roberson is quoted in the latest edition of Gay City News discussing the "fiscal strain" caused by recession and budget cuts on service agencies and POCC's scaled down plans for black pride. GCN went to publication before Roberson's dismissal.

Roberson's firing and the PITC cancellation were reportedly anticipated by veteran black gay pride organizers, and, according to one source close to PITC, Earl Fowlkes, the International Federation of Black Prides president, was "concerned" about Roberson's lack of executive experience and historic involvement in the ballroom community. Roberson is the co-founder of the House of Manolo-Blahnik and the "father" of the New York City chapter of the House of Miyake-Mugler.

After the jump, exclusive details behind a new lawsuit filed against POCC that alleges Roberson reneged on this weekend's Greatest Ball on Earth and maxed out organization credit cards to "bail personal friends out of jail."

The icing on the cake is a damning lawsuit against POCC in New York City Civil Court alleging embezzlement, "gross mismanagement, misappropriation of funds, abuse of power" and "sexual ... casting couch" in Roberson's office.

The suit filed by veteran promoter and legendary ballroom personality Terence Dixon for $8450, is the eighth lawsuit filed against POCC in the last ten years. A search of the New York State Unified Court System shows at least four legal actions against Michael A. Roberson, including two lawsuits filed by Consolidated Edison.

Dixon, the founder of the House of Legend, scheduled a fundraiser for August 2, the Greatest Ball on Earth, and filed suit after POCC only reneged on plans to cosponsor the event. Dixon says he is outraged by Roberson and POCC's actions and now has to front the costs himself. "I've been advertising for eight months," Dixon tells Rod 2.0, adding TGBOE was originally slated for April 19, but Roberson personally convinced him to move TGBOE to August 2 to coincide with PITC.

Dixon's lawsuit claims Roberson and POCC waited until July 10 to pull out of Saturday's event. These plans were "finalized in November and we had a meeting every month with the executive director," Dixon tels Rod 2.0. "In each meeting, he said every thing was okay. I asked every time were these rumors [of investigations] true, he said no. Even after their own ball was canceled he claimed there were no" financial irregularities at POCC, Dixon says.

Dixon's lawsuit and ballroom insiders claim Roberson used POCC as a virtual ATM, exhausting "the agency's credit cards, credit line and spent federal grant money on such things as bailing personal friends out of jail." Roberson is also alleged to "have purchased dozens of roundtrip tickets to Los Angeles on POCC's account to visit his significant other." The charges, drama and alleged financial irregularities and "sexual casting couch," including the legal history surrounding the ball, are chronicled in a 22 page thread at the always-entertaining Walk4MeWednesday message board, the go-to site for ballroom news.

To add insult to injury, Dixon tells Rod 2.0 that Roberson did not have the "decency" personally cancel. "I called him earlier this month and he wouldn't get back to me. Then, when we did talk, he told me he would call me back in 20 minutes and he never did. Someone else called me back, a friend, not even an employee of POCC."

Terence Dixon tells Rod 2.0 the biggest insult is that Saturday's Greatest Ball on Earth is a fundrasier planned for HIV/AIDS services in Harlem and Brooklyn, as well as scholarships for college students.& ; "I don't know what to say," Dixon laments. "This has never happened before."

Comments

[Brandon]

This is outrageous and a darned shame. If black gay men in the nation's two largest cities cannot hold a black gay pride without mismanagement, where can they hold one? Give me a break.

Oh and let me say brilliant reporting Rod. I saw this story on the Yahoo Groups and something told me you would have the full story.

[BL]

I'm not one to gossip, but it seems Michael Roberson's extra-curricular activities were quite well known in the ballroom community. It's very surprising that he lasted this long.

[Henry TW]

Wow. It's saddening but not very surprising that yet another black gay pride is canceled at the last minute. So the parties will continue across the weekend, but, the AIDS prevention charity, fundraisers and the official community events will not happen.

In other words, it's just a party weekend.

[Henry TW]

One more thing. Let me co-sign Brandon's observation and congratulate you on your fabulous reporting. Rod 2.0 truly is the black gay CNN.

[A. Ronald]

POCC took over the Pride in the City and wanted to be the sole sponsor of the event. It has been undercapitalized and over promoted and now is essentially just a big party weekend. How can you have black gay pride without the city's largest black gay pride involved in the function?

This is a loss to the entire black gay community of New York City. And it is a downright shame Terence Legend had to file a lawsuit against POCC. I truly hope there is a reasonable expectation and th executive director did not embezzle.

[Real Black Gay Man]

Let me get this right. The organizers of the ball say that after eight months, POCC suddenly pulled out and did not offer a reason? Un-freaking believable.

[Mad Professsah]

I agree. New tagline! "The Black Gay CNN" (Why is Rod 2.0 still in beta, anyway?)

The story is heartbreaking (but oh so familiar!) -- what is it about non-profit management that makes people LOSE THEIR MINDS??

[Evan]

Great reporting Rod.

I think this was bound to happen. There are a lot of gay people that take these executive positions in gay organizations and don't give a d@mn. Hopefully with pressure from black gays they will find a responsible, forward thinking, and caring black gay person to head these organizations. You got to care folks! Thousands of black gay people are getting infected with HIV every year and where is their voice in the national media?

[ATL Kid]

Mad P, you ain't never lied. It is entirely too unfortunate that many people go into non-profit management and steal from the charities they were supposed to help.

This reporting in his story really is excellent.

[cedric]

WOW this was news that you would not get from CNN. So I guess I can concur with others on here. What is going on with the state of Black gay men? I questioned the leaders who are running the show and there should be checks and balances and shouldn't hold office but for two to three years. It is time to co chair and CFO and CEO. There is no need for one person to have that much power when we are dealing with money. Rod thanks for the post! You are on point these days!:)

[CA]

Another black gay pride bites the dust. This is becoming a monthly series.

[Bill W]

I heard about this story at Clay Cane and knew that you would have the 411.

WHOA. I have utterly devastated by this news. Cedric is absolutely right, there is NO REASON one organization and one man should have had that much power and control over this event. It seems odd that auditors did not catch the misappropriation of funds. Maybe they did audits are often performed in June and July.

Much luck to Terrance Dean and Terence Legend. I wish I were in New York City, I would love to see this ball.

Evan, Cedric and ATL Kid are right. This is a great blog, I'm always astounded that you are able to do so much original reporting.

[Oliver W]

This is a low-down dirty shame. The expressed purpose of black gay pride is to show solidarity and unity in our community. If these allegations are true they are an affront and utterly despicable. Spending agency money on airfare tickets, bailing out boosting ball queens and partying? This is stealing from the community.

[Darian]

Rod,

I was wondering what you were up to earlier today since it was getting pretty late in the afternoon and you hadn't updated your site...now we know.

Thanks for shedding light on this unfortunate situation. Wonderful work as usual. Thanks for being an amazing example for the rest of us bloggers to follow.

[tony]

this news is dreadful. i hope these problems get ironed out quickly. LA, NYC and who's next. as a matter of fact my friends and i were commenting just last week, how surprised we were that it is still possible to get a room at the host hotel in ATL at this stage with only a month to go. normally all the rooms at the host hotel and overflow hotels would be fully booked. does this mean the attendance will be very low or what. of course, the special rate for black pride was only $89 per room and the brand new W is charging over $200 per room, which is more than double. the organizers need to find an alternative for next year because if the host hotel/focal point isn't buzzing then the event is dead. we can not afford to loose another BLACK pride. hats off always to ATL pride organizers but please sort this out before it's too late.

[Chris]

good reporting rod!!!

[Bernie]

As I see it, this is less about Black Pride and more about an absence of effective leadership at our Black gay organizations. Unfortunately, this is not the first time an agency head has been accused of misappropriation of funds.

These kinds of problems will only go away when we, the community, demand more of our leaders and hold them accountable for their actions.

[TheBrothasClub]

Excellent reporting! Sad to see Black Pride being put to shame like this. But lets try to re-group and focus on the positive. We need new leaders in the Black gay/lesbian community to step up and make sure that Black Pride 2009 is the biggest and best pride ever. We need to let our brotha's and sista's know that we fall down but we get up and move forward. So lets not linger..lets learn from the mistakes and build anew.

[David Meyer]

Wow. So many emotions. This is just sad, heart breaking and disgusting, all at the same time. I've been to balls produced by the House of Legend and they are FIERCE. I love the ballroom community and really hope that this can be resolved in an amicable fashion.

[Eddy]

Darian, your comments are funny because I was thinking the exact same thing. I know that Rod said posts would be slow this week but it seemed like today's was taking quite a while. But it was worth the wait ...

As always, the reporting at Rod 2.0 is outstanding. A few blogs and the email listervs published the POCC cancellation notice. I'm always impressed that you go the extra mile on almost every topic.

[Rio]

I'd like to echo what our good brotha Bernie said. There is a crisis of leadership in the black gay community. The prides are without a message, the organizations are without leadership, the activities are without purpose. We need to demand more and we will get more.

[Mad Professsah]

how many Black Gay organizations are there?

If I was ATL Black Pride I would send out a press release PDQ re-assuring people that sh*t is still going on Labor day Weekend.

[Tom Blumenthal]

All allegations of stealing, etc are detailed on my radio show "ServeTheKids Radio" on www.blogtalkradio.com/servethekids ....the former POCC board chairman was my guest. He broke down line by line every abuse allegedly committed by Roberson.

[ColinNYC]

chile.... are those Mugler's raising criminals... wasn't the Philly twins that were robbin the asians muglers 2

[Nathan James]

I deeply deplore this unmitigated disaster at POCC...the Blackout Arts Festival was to be a showcase of arts and culture from mour community. The Festival belonged to the community, and just like that, it is taken from us...