Wait for Tanqueray to step out on stage and take it all away

September 21, 2020 9:59 AM

When Tanqueray, a former exotic dancer, introduced herself to Brandon Stanton by teasing him for wearing shorts in the cold, a friendship began. Tanqueray has a lifetime's worth of wild stories to tell about stripping in NYC in the '60s and '70s, and Stanton, who runs Humans of New York, shared her inimitable voice in November. The internet loved her and wanted more. Now Tattletales from Tanqueray will be updating over the course of this week, allowing this remarkable, hilarious woman to share her life story. (Available on Facebook, Twitter, and IG.)
(CW: child abuse, slurs, explicit language)

Tanqueray, whose given name is Stephanie, is suffering from advanced health problems and housing difficulties, so their plans for a podcast were converted into a series of posts in order to help her get the assistance she needs. (Happily, the fundraiser is already over the top.)

posted by Countess Elena (10 comments total)

Holy smokes, the fundraiser has been up for a day and has already blown through the $300,000 dollar goal (at $350,000 and counting.)
posted by Merricat Blackwood at 10:39 AM on September 21, 2020 [2 favorites]

Holy smokes, the fundraiser has been up for a day and has already blown through the $300,000 dollar goal (at $350,000 and counting.)

Proving that you can't age out of hustling. Tanqueray still got her sway.
posted by geoff. at 11:07 AM on September 21, 2020 [6 favorites]

Brandon Stanton is my favorite human. I have donated to all of his fundraisers. He helps the most beautiful people and I love his photographs of them and their stories.
posted by ceejaytee at 1:20 PM on September 21, 2020 [2 favorites]

favorite comment: "I told my partner this last night. There are a lot of people who have RT’d this & commented elsewhere that Tanqueray is lying. Either you’ve never talked to the older women in your family OR think gay & drag lingo was created in the last decade or 2. "
Yes, this. Should we all be so lucky as to mingle with family again, please ply your aunties with decent cheap vino and ask them stories.
posted by winesong at 1:34 PM on September 21, 2020 [13 favorites]

She's a hell of a storyteller, does it really matter is it's not 100% for real for real true? Whatever happened, you have the sense that she has accurately captured the vibe of it all.
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 6:56 PM on September 21, 2020 [1 favorite]

It is awful that an old woman has to be treated as a commodity to get financial support. What about those of us who don’t have a colorful past or the ability to tell a story? We are just the invisible millions. I weep for this country.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 8:58 AM on September 22, 2020 [2 favorites]

You are absolutely right about that. It is a damned shame. Still, Stephanie is a lifelong storyteller, and had wanted to share these in a podcast before she became so sick. I'm glad that the fundraiser has not only gone over the top but jumped back over it again.

As for whether she's telling the absolute truth--well, none of the stories are too hard to believe in themselves, even though I am sure some of them have been cut to size.
posted by Countess Elena at 10:57 AM on September 22, 2020 [2 favorites]

Her stories aren't just entertaining but really well written. I'm a fan.
posted by sepviva at 2:26 PM on September 22, 2020

I think calling her a commodity undermines her own agency. She wasn't being paid for what she said stuff to Human's of NY originally, right?

Yes she shouldn't have to tell these stories to get financial support, and everyone deserves such support, but In an ideal world, where everyone was taken care of already, I hope that her storytelling would still be rewarded as art.
posted by Chrysopoeia at 10:02 AM on September 23, 2020 [4 favorites]

2.6 million dollars so far
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 6:34 PM on September 30, 2020