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No Fat Girls
| quote: | Although a Montreal nightclub is distancing itself from an invitation on its Facebook page that specified "NO FAT GIRLS ALLOWED!!!!!!!!!! ", people familiar with the local party scene say clubs regularly - if not overtly - discriminate based on looks.
"Everybody knows. (Clubs) are selective," said Stefano Apostolakos, owner of Montreal promotions company SMAN Productions.
A nightclub that wants to attract a certain kind of crowd will never openly turn people away based on weight, he said, but if a person doesn't fit in with the club's look, a bouncer can still find some excuse to turn them away, whether it's a long wait time, an expensive bottle service fee, or claiming the club is at capacity.
"(Discrimination) comes with the right to refuse entrance," Apostolakos said.
However, nightclubs can openly turn people away based on age or dress by setting age minimums or dress codes, Apostolakos explained.
The invitation was posted last week on the Facebook page of Muzique, a posh nightclub on St. Laurent Blvd., and included the line "no fat girls allowed," followed by the emoticon of a winking smiley face. The party was to celebrate the birthday of one of the club's partners last Saturday. The invitation was taken down on the weekend.
"When I saw it I freaked out. I was livid," said one plus-size woman who received the message as a member of Facebook's Musique group. Speaking on condition that her name not be used, she said her weight has never stopped her from going out - but that she won't be visiting Muzique if they discriminate against people who are overweight.
The management at Muzique said the comment was an accident and that they are thinking of posting an apology.
"We didn't even realize (the comment) was there until a couple of days ago and it was too late to retract it because the event had already happened," said John Jay, who oversees communication and marketing for Muzique.
Jay says it was the party planners that posted the event invitation, not himself or the owners. He said a friend of the club's partner thought it would be funny to add the line to the event invitation as "an inside joke."
"It was taken down as soon as we found out about it," Jay said. "It was not an intentional thing. It was actually an accident. It was someone thinking he was funny," Jay said. "We don't think it's funny at all."
After the invitation went up, a handful of Facebook users expressed their disapproval. One user copied and emailed the event listing and the comments to The Gazette before they were taken off the Internet.
"I found it immature and ridiculous," Joanelle Dufresne told The Gazette in an email. She posted a reaction to the invitation on Saturday.
Another user wrote: "Is there going to be a weight scale at the entrance? What's the maximum weight to get in? Frankly, I thought I had seen everything until now."
Shant Kojakian, who owns the Montreal promotions company Look Kool, said weight is not much of an issue at night clubs. Race tends to be more of a factor when it comes to selecting people at the entrace, he said. Kojakian said he's never seen a bouncer tell a potential customer he or she was too fat to get in.
Of course, night clubs want to attract a certain kind of clientele who are well-dressed and will spend money inside, Apostolakos and Kojakian said.
"They'll never tell you you can't come in because of your looks," Apostolakos said, "but at the end of the day that what it comes down to, usually. ... It's the sad truth." |
(Courtesy of The Montreal Gazette)
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