A Former Baltimore Cop Tried to Throw a Benefit for the Officers Charged in Freddie Gray's Death—in Blackface

Read: When Freddie Gray Protests Broke Out Across America

Former Baltimore Police Officer Bobby Berger has been imitating the infamous and incredibly offensive blackface performer Al Jolson since the 1980s, when he got fired for performing the act off duty. He was reinstated after suing the police department with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, but ultimately retired from the force after settling for $200,000.

Now Berger is back on the scene, determined to raise cash to support the six Baltimore Police officers who face criminal charges over the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in police custody, the Baltimore Sun reports.

Berger, now 67 years old, told the paper he sold 600 tickets for $45 a pop before the venue slated to host his performance, Michael's Eighth Avenue, backed out. It's unclear where he'll go from here, or if the show will happen at all.

The president of the NAACP's Baltimore branch, Tessa Hill-Aston, told the paper she thought the show was "disgusting."

"Right now, with all the things that are going on in Baltimore and also with all the issues with the Confederate flag, this is just putting more salt in the wound," she said. Even the police union expressed disapproval, and a lawyer for one of the six indicted cops who ostensibly might benefit from the sordid affair said the whole thing reeks of prejudice.

But Berger swears he doesn't think the routine is racist. Instead, he claims, he's only trying to help out some fellow cops.

"It's coincidence," he told the Associated Press. "There's no racial overtones to this show. There's nothing racial to the show."

Nothing racial at all, except maybe the fact that he's literally painting his face black.