Bouncer at Vancouver pub accused of racial profiling
Posted April 6, 2011 11:22 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A large Vancouver pub group is defending a bouncer accused of racism at the Library Square Public House Saturday Morning.
A man claims he was denied re-entry because of the colour of his skin. At 1:30 a.m. Saturday, Harry says he went outside to use his cell phone. When he showed the bouncer his stamp to get back in, he says the doorman told him, “We are not letting any more brown people back into the club.”
“My jaw dropped, so I asked him again ‘Excuse me, can you repeat that?’ and he said we are not letting any more brown people back in tonight,” Harry explains. “At the same time, I see two caucasian men walk in. I didn’t even want to go back in, but this is not right.”
He says his friend Melissa, who is white, came looking for him, and the bouncer then repeated the statement to her. “It made me feel sick to my stomach,” Melissa tells us. “It’s horrible, because there’s nothing I can do about it. This happens all the time.”
The Donnelly Group, which owns the pub, released a statement claiming the patrons in question were asked to leave for intoxication and aggressive behaviour claiming the bouncer was threatened and physically accosted.
“I wasn’t kicked out, I wasn’t asked to leave,” Harry insists. “I wasn’t intoxicated, I wasn’t aggressive. I acted as civilly as I could.”
Melissa says she is disappointed with the response. “Then why wasn’t I told that at the door when I asked him why my friend wasn’t allowed back in?”
