Jeffrey Dahmer:Eric Wynn, a Black drag queen at Club 219 Milwaukee for many years, was undisputedly the best. Erica Stevens was his stage name, and he sang for the adoring fans Whitney Houston, Grace Jones, and Tina Turner. He eventually earned the title Miss Gay Wisconsin in 1987 and 1986.
Jeffrey Dahmer Wynn, now at 58, said that he had a group of Black children who came in because they were being represented. He was talking about his time at the club during the 1980s and early 1990s. “I saw them and let the kids know that I saw them. They finally had representation onstage.”
Eddie Smith, also known as “the Sheikh”, because he wore a head scarf a lot, and Anthony Hughes who was deaf, were among them. Hughes was Wynn’s “absolute favorite fan” and blushed at Wynn when Wynn glared at him. Hughes gave Wynn the ABCs to sign language.
Wynn laughed and recalled that Wynn would laugh at me while I tried to learn sign language using my large, fake nails.
Wynn stated that the group of young Black men started to thin.
He said, “They were there, and then all of a sudden there were fewer of them.”
Smith and Hughes were among the 17 young men Jeffrey Dahmer murdered, dismembered, and cannibalized during a series of murders that largely targeted Milwaukee’s gay community between 1978 and 1991. Club 219 was frequented by Dahmer. Jeffrey Dahmer Dahmer was sentenced to 15 consecutive terms of life imprisonment, but was executed in prison in 1994.
Although Dahmer’s story has been the subject of many documentaries and books, none have received the same attention as Netflix’s “Monster” series. Ryan Murphy created the 10-part series that dramatizes the murder spree.
The series stars Evan Peters as Dahmer, with Niecy Nah as the neighbor who tried to alert the police. It aims to tell the horrifying tale of Dahmer through the accounts of his victims.
Many critics felt that the attempt was a failure when Netflix labelled the series under its L.G.B.T.Q. Vertical premiered last month. After backlash on Twitter, the label was removed. Wynn and the families of victims questioned why it was necessary to dramatize and humanize serial killers.
Wynn stated that Murphy’s actions were “unfair, ill-timed and it was a media grab.” “I thought that he was better than this.”
Murphy, who gained fame as a comedian on “Glee,” was a master at true crime. His mini-series, “American Crime Story,” explored the assassination and subsequent conviction of Gianni Versace.
The Simpson trial and the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Wynn was stopped by Murphy’s shift from “The Normal Heart,” based upon a play by Larry Kramer and “Pose” about New York City’s 1980s dance scene to “Monster”.
Wynn stated that he was impressed by “Pose” and added that it was a great tribute to all of them. Then he does this, attacking the Black gay community.
Wynn stated that instead of focusing on victims Wynn says “Monster” is focused on Dahmer. Netflix’s labeling of an L.G.B.T.Q. Wynn stated that the film was not well-timed and did not help at all.
Netflix didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Rita Isbell, Rita’s brother Errol Lindsey, wrote an essay for Insider. She described how she watched a Netflix show that depicted her victim’s testimony at Dahmer’s trial and then “reliving it all over” again.
She wrote, “It brought back all of the emotions that I felt back then.” “I wasn’t contacted about the show. Netflix should have asked us if we would mind sharing our feelings about the show. They didn’t even ask me any questions. They did it.
Eric Perry, who claimed to be a relative of Isbells, stated that the series was “retraumatizing over-and-over again, and for whom?”
Scott Gunkel (62), worked as a bartender at Club 219 when Dahmer was a client. Gunkel saw the first two episodes “Monster”, but was unable to continue. Gunkel stated that he and his friends didn’t want to go back to the first two episodes of “Monster.”
He said that the first episodes didn’t provide any context for the victims and was shocked by the episode. He also stated that the scenes in the bars did not accurately reflect the racial makeup of the city’s gay bars. The show portrays it as predominantly white and not black.
Gunkel also recalled Hughes, the deaf man who would go into the bar to wait for it get busy. Hughes was one of few victims to get a complete episode dedicated to his story.
Gunkel recalls, “He’d arrive early and have a few sodas and then write me notes to keep things going.” “He vanished, and I didn’t think much about it at the time.”
This is partly because the Dahmer years coincided with the AIDS outbreak. The Netflix series has a few vague references to the crisis, such as the hesitation of the police to assist the victims and a scene in which condom usage is discussed. Gunkel stated that customers disappearing was not unusual.
Gunkel recalled, “We had this saying at the bars — if someone wasn’t there anymore, either he was ill or he got married.”
Michail Takach, a Wisconsin L.G.B.T.Q. curator, stated that the combination of the AIDS epidemic and the transient lifestyles of many gay men in Milwaukee, as well as “institutional homophobia, racism targeting the community”, provided a perfect cover to Dahmer. History Project. Takach was 18 at the time Dahmer was captured.
Takach, now fifty, stated that people were always searching for new things and people would always disappear. “This was different because it got worse and worse.”
He said that missing person posters were climbed “like trees in Club 219 up to the ceiling” and then fell down.
Takach stated that the show brought back these memories and also exposed people who claimed to be connected with the Dahmer years but were not.
He said that this was the invisible cost of Dahmer resurgence, “this dreadful mythology and this inexplicable need to attach itself to someone else’s horror.”
Nathaniel Brennan is an adjunct professor at New York University in cinema studies. He is currently teaching a course about true crime.
He said that even with the best intentions, victims can become pawns, symbols, or games.
Brennan stated that contemporary true crime is often a victim of unresolved tension. He said, “We cannot tolerate forgetting it but the representation thereof will never be perfect.” “This balance has been more evident over the last 25 years.”
He said that criminals are often depicted with tragic backgrounds. “There is a belief that society could have done more to prevent this,” he said.
A lot of “Monster,” is dedicated to Dahmer’s roots, including the suggestion that his mother’s postpartum mental health problems or a hernia surgery at age 4 may have had an impact on his Jeffrey Dahmer mental development.
Wynn, who now lives in San Francisco, stated that he didn’t plan to watch the series. He also said Murphy owed an apology for the families of the victims as well as the city of Milwaukee. He said, “That’s an injury on the city.”
He hadn’t spoken in many years about the Dahmer years before the series premiered. He still thinks of Hughes when he uses his sign language.
He said, “I did it today.” “I do it still so I don’t forget.”
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