Ralphie May Canceled Over Video

City Councilman Reed Olson told the Star Tribune that the show was canceled on the advice of city leaders because of complaints that the 44-second clip was “mean and racist.”

Bemidji and its surrounding communities are home to a substantial Native population. For his part, May responded via Twitter that the profanity-laden clip was taken out of context and was intended to satirize racists, not attack their victims.

Supporters reportedly argued that the clip was taken from a longer bit that shows the joke was on bigots. In the clip, May repeats the phrase “fuck a bunch of Indians” and calls them unemployed alcoholics who need to “dry out,” get jobs and cut their hair. He said they “never made it to the Bronze Age,” which is why white settlers took their land with “smallpox blankets and a bag of beads.”

The Sanford Center’s Facebook page was inundated with negative comments about the appearance. Arena management initially resisted canceling the show, but after asking city officials to “weigh in – actually, just to tell them what to do,” canceled the show, according to the paper. “Because they’re a quasi-governmental entity, we agreed. And as soon as we realized how the show was being received, we said, ‘We’re just not going to have it here,’ ” Olson told the Star Tribune.

Complicating matters was the fact that the Sanford Center is hosting the Bemijigamaag powwow April 23.

“Bemidji has struggled with major racial tensions, which is why this is so, so important,” Olson reportedly said.