Annual "player's ball" draws protests

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Maywood `Players Ball' stirs protest

Opponents say party glamorizes pimps

 

By Johnathon E. Briggs

Tribune staff reporter

Published December 4, 2005

 

Often sporting a lime-green plaid suit and clutching a diamond-studded chalice for sipping Moet, the self-proclaimed "king of the pimps," Archbishop Don Magic Juan, "spiritual adviser" to rapper Snoop Dogg, is known to hobnob with celebrities and is accustomed to red-carpet treatment.

 

But his anticipated arrival triggered protests Saturday night at a banquet hall in Maywood, where the glittering "mack daddy" was to celebrate his birthday and preside over the 30th annual "Players Ball Convention," where a trophy is given to "No. 1 International Pimp of the Year."

 

Appalled that a party glamorizing the prostitution of women was to take place in their back yard--across the street from the Maywood Police Department, no less--a coalition of about 100 residents, former prostitutes, elected officials and clergy protested outside Mariella's Banquet Hall.

 

The message was clear: Pimping's not welcome in Maywood.

 

Juan, once known as Don Campbell, was a notorious pimp on the West Side. According to his memoir "From Pimp Stick to Pulpit--It's Magic," he hung up his pimp "game" in 1985, found Jesus and is a preacher who ministers "to the outcasts of society."

 

Still, the party touched a nerve in a community that has striven to recast its image. And in recent years, it has shown success in reclaiming its sense of community by fighting the scourge of gangs, drugs and guns.

 

In 2003, 20 people were killed in the western suburb. But after redoubling anti-gang and drug-fighting efforts, homicides totaled 10 in 2004 and six so far this year, said Janice Mitchell-Bolling, program manager for the Chicago-based anti-violence group CeaseFire.

 

"This [Player's Ball] is a slap in the face," said Mitchell-Bolling, who joined the protest. "We've been working too hard in this community to have people smudge the name of Maywood."

 

State Rep. Karen Yarbrough, a Democrat whose legislative district includes Maywood, was outraged when she learned of the event Friday after a phone call from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

 

"There should have been some sensitivity from the banquet hall owner," Yarbrough said. "We don't want to tell our kids: `You don't have to go to school. You can be a pimp.'"

 

On Saturday night, the hall's owner said that about nine months ago, a man asked to rent the hall to throw a birthday party for his father. The owner said he had no idea that the father was Juan, and that he planned to convene his legendary ball, which was featured most famously in the documentary "Pimps Up, Ho's Down."

 

"We didn't know who this guy was," said the owner's son, Antonio, who would not give his last name but spoke on behalf of his father. "Unfortunately, we can't profile our customers."

 

According to Juan's Web site, tickets to the 7 p.m. affair cost $50 to $300. By 7 p.m., though, the only activity at the hall was the surveillance of local police staked out in front. The owner's son said he could not void the contract and expected the bash to carry on.

 

"It's not glamorous. It's not cute," Brenda, a former prostitute, told protesters before the rally. "Enough is enough. Stop glamorizing the abuse of women."