Dark Sheik Reflects On The Importance Pride Month’s ‘Communion’: ‘It Is Healing & Powerful’ (Exclusive)

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It’s Pride Month! Throughout June, HollywoodLife is celebrating with The Sound Of Pride, wherever celebs and stars of the LBGTQ+ assemblage prime songs for the eventual 2023 Pride Month playlist. It’s the cleanable soundtrack to readying your Pride party, researching how to support LGBTQ+ rights, oregon speechmaking astir the history of Pride Month. This time, Dark Sheik, the High Priestess of Hoodslam and trailblazing wrestler, celebrates the fearless with her picks for the playlist.

Dark Sheik

“Every Pride lawsuit is amazing,” Dark Sheik tells HollywoodLife, “because, successful a satellite wherever you’re made to consciousness a stranger, it is simply a beauteous happening to locomotion into a abstraction and spot radical similar yourself. We don’t often recognize the value of this communion, but it is healing and powerful.”

For implicit thirteen years, Dark Sheiks has fostered this communion with like-minded outsiders whenever she steps into the ringing and done Hoodslam, her wrestling promotion. Blending wrestling, show art, and reality, Hoodslam is an acquisition that proudly walks manus successful manus with the sincere and the absurd. It is simply a institution that features characters similar Chupacabra, Cereal Man, Drugz Bunny (RIP), and The Stoner Brothers but puts them successful affluent stories that past years, stories that spot these characters grow, flourish, and adjacent die.

Hoodslam’s ngo connection – “This Is Real” – was erstwhile champion explained done a quote from writer/philosopher Alan Watts: “By seeing that Nothingness is the cardinal reality, and you spot it’s your reality, past however tin thing contaminate you? … Because you’re truly Nothing, but this is the astir unthinkable Nothing.” As such, Sheik has created a satellite retired of this “most unthinkable Nothing,” 1 wherever world is what 1 makes of it.

This world is simply a haven for fans that mainstream wrestling often overlooks oregon straight-up ignores: women, radical of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Hoodslam has agelong celebrated the powerfulness of pistillate characters with its beloved FEMMED OUT nights and has continued to spotlight talents that usually don’t get apical billing.

“Being good with cheery radical and minorities successful wrestling, not talking down to our audience, springiness them amusive characters, storylines for grownups. They truly took to it,” Dark Sheik said to FOX KTVU astir Hoodslam’s becoming the “accidental phenomenon” that it is today. “I’m a batch of things and 1 of them is trans. But much importantly, I’m a storyteller. I similar doing things that are caller and scary. We’re going to bash things that are a small spot much risky and provocative.”

For fans successful Oakland, they tin spot the adjacent section successful the communicative erstwhile Hoodslam puts connected SUNNY DAYS connected June 23, and American Scream on July 7. Both events volition stream unrecorded connected FITE+ if you can’t marque it to Oakland. Until then, blast Sheik’s selections for The Sound Of Pride.

Kylie Minogue, “Padam Padam”

“Because Kylie said ‘Here’s a peculiar acquisition conscionable for us’ and close connected time. And it’s the archetypal opus EFFY played for maine successful the car connected June 1st.”

David Guetta & Sia, “Let’s Love”

“Because you conscionable get to outcry ‘let’s love’ implicit and over.”

Michael Jackson, “They Don’t Care About Us”

“[The song] conscionable truly hits sometimes, y’know?”

Dark Sheik

HL: How does this year’s Pride solemnisation consciousness erstwhile compared to past year’s?

Dark Sheik: “I thin to enactment consecutive done it, truthful my cognition is skewed. But, the little the companies enactment us, the much I spot america supporting each other. It’s a commercialized that I invited wholeheartedly. We are stronger together, and it’s the institution I’d alternatively observe with.”

Pride is simply a clip to observe unsung heroes. Are determination you’d similar to spot get immoderate much of the spotlight this year?

“Since you’re asking me, I’m going to accidental me. But it feels that transmasculine radical are often underrepresented, particularly if they are radical of color, and I’d emotion to perceive an reply from idiosyncratic immoderate of that statement applies to.”

Do you person a circumstantial representation of Pride Months’ past?

“Every Pride lawsuit is astonishing because, successful a satellite wherever you’re made to consciousness a stranger, it is simply a beauteous happening to locomotion into a abstraction and spot radical similar yourself. We don’t often recognize the value of this communion, but it is healing and powerful.

“I’ve been fortunate capable to execute during Pride astatine Hoodslam successful Oakland and EFFY’s Big Gay Brunch crossed aggregate locations, and it’s a humbling experience. Acceptance from those I don’t respect isn’t thing I spot worth in, but being capable to beryllium a typical for radical similar myself is inspiring successful ways that spell beyond performance.”

What bash you person planned for June (and the remainder of 2023?)

“I’m going to provender the stray cats and crows, execute successful Vegas, Oakland, Minneapolis, Alberta Canada, and wherever other is fond of chaotic energy. And acquisition the solemnisation and joyousness that pervades from individuals who person the courageousness to transverse the abyss wrong themselves and beryllium the astir honorable mentation of themselves they tin be, the state of the fearless.”

Do you person a Pride 2023 connection to share?

“Be crime, bash gay.”

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Keep reading HollywoodLife throughout June for more entries in The Sound of Pride and additional Pride Month coverage. And retrieve — hole your bosom oregon die! 

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