The Q -- a homosexual nightclub in Hell's Kitchen -- was hit with a lawsuit claiming that it engaged in discrimination.
Robert Mecea
A star-backed homosexual nightclub in Hell’s Kitchen engaged in racist and sexist entrance insurance policies, catered to underage drinkers and seemed the opposite means when it got here to unlawful medicine together with “date rape” drug GHB, in accordance with a brand new lawsuit.
The Q, which opened in 2021 on Eighth Avenue and forty eighth avenue, was imagined to trumpet “inclusiveness,” however accomplice Alan Pikus “was vocal in his discriminatory beliefs and was hostile to the membership catering to any group apart from white younger males,” former accomplice Frank “Frankie” Sharp alleged within the go well with which was filed final month in state Supreme Courtroom in Manhattan.
Sharp, a nightlife producer and public face of the membership, says within the go well with that he labored to design and launch the four-story venue which affords a mixture of reside music, cocktails and a dance ground. Actors Charlie Carver and Zachary Quinto are amongst its buyers and Billy Porter helped advertise.
Along with Pikus, who's also referred to as Alan Picus and is a nightclub promoter, accomplice Bob Fluet, a founding father of the Boxers NYC chain of bars, is called within the go well with.
The Q was shortly fashionable with patrons however instantly rattled neighbors who lodged noise complaints, in accordance with the go well with, which alleged Pikus would improve the speaker quantity if anybody lowered it.
Pikus was additionally hostile to the membership’s fashionable Latin nights, telling Sharp, “Be certain your Latin nights are the great sort of Latins, not Blatinos,” utilizing slang for somebody of combined race, in accordance with court docket papers.
Pikus wished the venue to be “snug for white twinks,” or younger homosexual, white males, the go well with alleges. He wished girls barred from entry and made a disparaging comment to a possible bar supervisor, saying, “I don’t want [you] to interrupt my again to rent individuals simply because they’re black or trans,” court docket papers allege.
The membership developed a status “because the place to go for underage consuming,” in accordance with court docket papers say.
And Pikus “ordered” safety to cease prohibiting unlawful medicine and when they didn't comply, he stated he would learn “the riot act” to the safety director for “taking our boys’ GHB away,” the go well with alleges. The so-called membership drug is understood for decreasing inhibitions and for being slipped into drinks to render a sufferer unable to withstand a sexual assault.
Pikus can be alleged to have intercourse in public with membership prospects, usually close to staff and “typically really subsequent to them,” in accordance with the lawsuit.
When he informed Fluet about employee complaints in April 2022 with video to again them up, he was given an ultimatum to both resign with a small payout or presumably face termination, Sharp contended in his go well with.
Sharp stated he was fired on Might 23.
The go well with seeks not less than $726,000 plus Sharp’s share of the membership’s earnings.
“I used to be proven the door BECAUSE of my REPEATED makes an attempt to deal with the problematic habits and harmful mismanagement of the Q….All I'm searching for on this declare is Justice and I REFUSE to be intimidated,” Sharp stated on his Fb web page.
Thomas Shanahan, a lawyer for Pikus stated, “the allegations of inappropriate, racially insensitive and discriminatory feedback, they have been taken out of context.”
Pikus denied making the remarks about Latinos, white “twinks,” trans individuals and that he didn't have intercourse within the membership or allow unlawful drug us or underage consuming, Shanahan added.
The Q introduced on its Instagram web page this week that Pikus was now not affiliated with it and that it made a $10,000 donation to Vacation spot Tomorrow, a Bronx nonprofit serving the LGBTQ+ group.
Fluet on Instagram stated “Whereas we vehemently deny the hurtful allegations which have just lately surfaced, we're dedicated to finish the very division inside our group that Q’s programming and mission have been designed to fight.”
Reps for Carver, Quinto and Porter didn't return requests for remark.
Extra reporting by Maddie Panzer
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