Rapper Pusha T, from the Clipse, is a Virginia Beach, Va., native, but he says he wasn’t made to feel welcomed in an establishment in his hometown. In a series of Instagram posts and tweets, the rapper put a local nightclub on blast for its “blatant racism.”
https://twitter.com/PUSHA_T/status/605588269309562880https://twitter.com/PUSHA_T/status/605590378373386241https://twitter.com/PUSHA_T/status/605592582253604864
Pusha T was denied entry to Venue 112 Monday night, and in an interview with WAVY.com’s Nicole Livas Tuesday, he explained what happened: “White males and females walked in before us … we were there first, and we had to wait.”
Pusha T said a club manager whispered into a bouncer’s ear, “Tell them we’re doing guest list only.”
After being put on blast on Instagram, the club manager set his own account to private.
On Twitter, fellow Virginia Beach native Pharrell Williams joined in, citing the racism that exists in the area.
https://twitter.com/Pharrell/status/606167345371815936
“There was an obvious disconnect between both doormen, so that’s how I know specifically there wasn’t a guest list,” Pusha T told WAVY.com. “And how do you know that I wasn’t on the guest list? You didn’t even ask me. Was it imaginary?”
According to WAVY.com, the club’s attorney says it does discriminate, not based on race but on the way people are dressed and act.
“Venue does not discriminate based on race,” attorney Kevin Martingayle said. “Obviously, there are going to be individual considerations for the people who get in, and people who are regular customers are going to get preference over the unknowns to the owners of the establishment. People who are dressed better than people who are dressed in a sloppy fashion get preference, and people who behave properly get preference.”
But this isn’t the first time Venue 112 has been accused of racism.
In an interview with Billboard, Pusha T discussed the “imaginary guest list”: “I’m literally typing about an imaginary ‘guest list,’ and [it turns out] this is a running theme! I had no idea.”
Pusha T said he isn’t looking for an apology but wants people to know he’s not “exempt from” racism, even in his own hometown, telling 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.”