"I vow never to return to Appleton, Wisconsin," Byer declared emphatically. Comedian Nicole Byer reminisced about an eerie encounter with racist hecklers during a past performance in the state, her voice tinged with emotion. "I've shared about those Appleton gigs in my specials, and let me tell you, I absolutely despised being there," she recounted during a lively episode of Jesse Tyler Ferguson's 'Dinner's on Me' podcast on August 6th. "The atmosphere was downright toxic, filled with negative vibes."
"During my set, I had a white host and a Black guest feature, but the audience was uncontrollably rowdy. At one point, when my Black guest was on stage, a man in the crowd shouted, 'Smile, we can't see you!' I was flabbergasted, thinking, 'What the actual hell?'"
Byer recounted, her words dripping with indignation, how she marched straight into the crowd, confronting a server. "I asked, 'Aren't you going to say something about this?' And the server just looked at me, baffled, asking, 'What?'" She exclaimed, "Oh my God!"
The 'Nailed It!' host recounted her subsequent decision to forgo the post-show meet-and-greet, despite it being included in the ticket price. "I told my agent, 'I'm not engaging with these people. Sure, there might be decent folks amidst the chaos, but overall, it's just a cesspool of bad apples and negative energy.' I couldn't fathom the audacity of that man's words."
What stung even deeper, Byer lamented, was the lack of consequences for such behavior. "It blew my mind, making the whole experience feel downright terrifying." Later, a friend enlightened her about Appleton's past as a "sundown town," a term that resonated deeply, signifying a place where anti-Black segregation persisted long after the laws were abolished.
This revelation solidified her resolve. "I will never set foot in Appleton, Wisconsin, again," she concluded, her voice firm and resolute.
