A former Baltimore police officer has said he plans to perform an Al Jolson routine in blackface to raise money for the six Baltimore officers who have been indicted in the death of Freddie Gray.

Bobby Berger, whose performances as Jolson created tension with the department in the 1980s, said on Wednesday that 610 tickets have been sold in eight days at $45 each for the 1 November fundraiser in Glen Burnie, Maryland.

But the venue where Berger intended to hold the event, Michael’s Eighth Avenue in Glen Burnie, posted a notice on its website that the fundraiser will not be hosted there.

“No contract was signed with Mr Berger,” the notice said. “Michael’s does not condone blackface performances of any kind.”

Berger said in an interview he did not believe there was anything racist about his routine.

“It’s coincidence,” Berger said about the fact that the entertainer he impersonates wore blackface. “There’s no racial overtones to this show. There’s nothing racial to the show.”

Michael Davey, an attorney for the Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police, said officers did not support the fundraiser.

Gray, who was black, died of injuries received in police custody. Davey said no money would be accepted from the fundraiser.

“They’ve been put in a pretty bad position without their knowledge,” Davey said of the six accused police officers.

Tessa Hill-Aston, president of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP, said the idea was “very distasteful”.

“This is showing no sensitivity to the family of Freddie Gray,” Hill-Aston said.

Gray’s death prompted a wave of protests and open confrontations with riot police in Baltimore in April.

Berger, who is 67, has performed the blackface signing act for decades. He was fired from the police force in the 1980s for performing the act in his spare time. He was reinstated to his job following an appeal, but later retired.

His performance at a retirement dinner for a white Baltimore County officer in 1996 prompted a black officers group to protest outside the dinner.

Berger said on Wednesday that he only intended to help the officers who were indicted in the Gray case.