Thursday, March 28, 2024

Pusha T Rails Against VA Beach Club’s Alleged ‘Blatant Racism’

Pusha T attends the Tim Coppens fashion show during MADE Fashion Week Fall 2014 at Milk Studios on February 9, 2014 in New York City
Pusha T attends the Tim Coppens fashion show during MADE Fashion Week Fall 2014 at Milk Studios on February 9, 2014 in New York City

*Pusha T (aka Terrence Thornton) lit up social media Monday night (June 1) when he tweeted about being denied entry to a club in his native Virginia Beach, allegedly because he was black.

The rapper told Billboard Tuesday that he headed to the club Venue 112 with a few friends for drinks, and one of his friends was ahead of him in the line to enter — but as the doorman was giving his friend a wristband, the club’s owner allegedly walked by and told the doorman to insist that the club was “guest list only” that night, thereby refusing the group entry.

Per Billboard:

Thornton said that there was no guest list visible, and added that even though his friend already had a wristband on, he was still denied entry. Even the surprised protests of other potential patrons who recognized the rapper (who is something of a local legend) didn’t sway the staff. Frustrated, Thornton took to social media to share his experience and warn others away from the club.

Within hours, similar accounts began pouring in from fellow would-be patrons of Venue 112 alleging the establishment’s racist door policy. “I’m literally typing about an imaginary ‘guest list,’ ” Thornton told Billboard, “and [it turns out] this is a running theme! I had no idea.”

The rapper couldn’t recall ever being confronted with such “blatant racism,” as he put it, in his hometown. “The only reason that me and my friends didn’t fit the mold was because we were black,” Thornton said.

Though he says the incident was “hurtful,” the rapper is looking for neither retribution nor apology. So why did Thornton decide to take the incident public? “I wanted to tell people that I wasn’t exempt from it either,” he explained to Billboard. “People may think that I have it easier in some ways, but this shows that racism even overpowers business. I understand what other members of my community are going through.”

Billboard reached out to Venue 112 for comment.

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