The tables have turned on antigay radicals who want the legal right to discriminate against people based on their personal religious beliefs. They’ve suddenly found themselves on the receiving end of that sort of treatment, and–guess what?–they don’t like it!
The Clarendon Ballroom is a popular private event venue in Arlington, VA that regularly hosts concerts, galas, and weddings. Last week, the club’s operations director Adrianne Freshman was contacted by a man who said he wanted to throw a party for a group called The Citizens for Trump. Freshman sent the man a proposal and the two spoke over the phone. No contract was signed and no money was exchanged.
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Days later, Freshmen learned that the “Citizens for Trump” party was actually being thrown by a hate group called The Deplorables, which is run by white supremacist Mike Cernovich, a man deemed by The New Yorker as ““the meme mastermind of the alt-right.” They had billed the event as “The DeploraBall.” But not just that, they had also already sold 500 tickets, despite not actually securing the venue.
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After learning all this, Freshman contacted Cernovich and politely backed out of hosting the event. And that’s when things got messy.
Cernovich retaliated by posting a 26 minute video to Twitter accusing the ballroom of discrimination and giving into pressure from forces opposed to Donald Trump.
“The Clarendon Ballroom is not going to host it,” he hissed. “They caved to left-wing harassment!”
Then he showed what appears to be a proposal from Clarendon Ballroom. He did not, however, show a signed contract. (Because he never signed one!)
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Shortly after that, Freshman began receiving threats by phone and email.
“I have literally spent my entire day blocking people and deleting hundreds of slanderous, dangerous, vulgar and threatening posts and tweets, answering threatening phone calls and watching my first ever Twitter War,” he told media in an email.
The venue’s Yelp and Facebook pages was also bombarded with negative reviews, many from people who live states away:
We can’t help but wonder if this is a precursor for what is to come. Are we now going to see white supremacists and other hate groups suing liberal and pro-LGBTQ businesses?
Should nightclubs be allowed to refuse events thrown by groups that oppose equal rights? Share your thoughts in the comments…
Related: Mississippi Passes Bill Making Discrimination Legal For Religious Homophobes
loren_1955
In the early days of Hitler, the followers were the ones doing the intimidating of the masses. Hitler didn’t need to do a thing. In time entire communities were frightened into showing ‘loyalty’ at the fear of persecution or worse. Are we there yet?
SnorlaxationKH
Pathetic. The ones that should’ve been in the closet all along, away from actual society and out of the light, are these hateful and shameless monsters.
Brian
Maybe the club might want to host the black supremacists of Black Lives Matter?
Captain Obvious
@Brian: Is trolling your life or something?
Mo Bro
So the lesson here is that it’s okay to discriminate, as long as the victim of said discrimination voted for Donald Trump?
Yet again, liberal logic rears its ugly, hypocritical head.
Franklin
@Mo Bro: I think you missed the part where it said white supremacist group.
Franklin
@Brian: Black lives matter is not a black supremacist group, no matter how much you want to believe it is.
Mo Bro
@Franklin:
Did the group self-identify as “white supremacist”?
Nope, it’s simply the knee-jerk label given them by those suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Heywood Jablowme
Much as I sympathize with the business in this case, do they have a legal leg to stand on? Are they required to accommodate the deplorables? If the group were actual Nazis or KKK, would they be required to accommodate them too? Maybe a lawyer reading this can explain the legal issues involved.
Also, Queerty makes the comment about “antigay radicals who want the legal right to discriminate against people based on their personal religious beliefs.” I don’t see any “religious beliefs” here, just r@c1st nonsense. Most of the Trump fanatics don’t seem religious at all; they have other deplorable motivations.
@Franklin: Yeah, the Trumpsters are always spreading lies that BLM supposedly calls for killing cops (etc.) – not true!
Carrie
@Mo Bro: Did you miss this part of the article? “Days later, Freshmen learned that the “Citizens for Trump” party was actually being thrown by a hate group called The Deplorables, which is run by white supremacist Mike Cernovich, a man deemed by The New Yorker as ““the meme mastermind of the alt-right.” They had billed the event as “The DeploraBall.” But not just that, they had also already sold 500 tickets, despite not actually securing the venue.” It says right there that it is a hate group. If they did not have a SIGNED contract with the venue than the venue did nothing wrong. It would be different if they had a signed contract. For them to go ahead and start selling tickets was a mistake on their part.
cyan_graham
@loren_1955: Hitler used a populist message about how outside nations were holding Germany back. That the influence of the Jewish were causing ruin to a once proud nation. Hitler simply said things that sparked the frustrations of the people and put blame on everyone else. So you tell me? The US just elected a man who says that the problem in the US is Mexico, China and the Middle East. He has gone ON RECORD saying we need to kill the families of terrorists. That Mexico is sending their worst into the country. Hitler and Trump are alike in that they bring out the worst in a theocratic mind set to get what they want. Using disgusting “Christian” values to promote their climb to leadership. The Nazi’s were an extreme right wing fascist movement. I always find it HILARIOUS when people try to liken Liberal politics to the Nazis.
Masc Pride
@Heywood Jablowme: Public places do have the right to refuse service under certain circumstances (“No Shirt, No Service”). Public places aren’t supposed to discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, etc. The ballroom didn’t back out because the group was white or Christian (and I’m just assuming the Christian part since most white supremacist groups profess to be devout Christians). Also, the ballroom can easily argue that hosting an event for a hate group could wind up jeopardizing future business, which means it’s not an arbitrary refusal.
I’m not a lawyer, but I’m somewhat familiar with discrimination laws.
Masc Pride
Anyone else notice that right-wing extremists seems to always be out in droves in internet comment and review sections? You can read an article on climate change and the comments will be loaded with rcist right-wingers comparing Obama to an ape. Same with the Yelp reviews this article mentions, why would someone go out of their way to leave a negative Yelp review for a business in another state that they have no plans to even visit? Who has the time and energy for all this iRage?!
Franklin
@Carrie: You beat me too it. MoBro didn’t bother to read that. Then again, his previous comment history leaves me with the impression that even if he did, he probably doesn’t care. He seems like the type that considers white supremacy a non-issue.
Arconcyyon
No not chic no club priver drinks music club ! more about good the clientt´s diversity is like love life the sexo night ! good is good .
BriBri
Sounds more like anti Tump mumbo jumbo. There’s plenty of that going around, video or it didn’t happen. One doesn’t have to be a Trump supporter to recognize this, just not naive.
Franklin
@BriBri: So much delusion.
dwes09
@Brian: “Maybe the club might want to host the black supremacists of Black Lives Matter?”
Please, when statistics show that law enforcement people are more likely to kill people of color casually, and that people of color routinely receive heavier sentences for the same crimes than white people; provide actual proof that BLM is a “black supremacist” group (they do not specifiy one racial group as superior or want to see racial separation as your buddies, the white supremacists do, nor do they advocate against LGBT people as your buddies do).
Maybe you might want to consider how many people think you an absolute fool. We really don’t think much of you hetero’s coming here to troll us. We think you are scum.
dwes09
@Mo Bro: The lesson is that it is not unreasonable to try and withhold services from hate groups (and there was clearly no signed contract), is that too much for your white hetero ass to understand?
And nobody believes you are black, so cut the bullshit. you are just another stupid white troll who thinks he has intelligence that approaches average.
dwes09
@BriBri: “Sounds more like anti Tump mumbo jumbo. There’s plenty of that going around, video or it didn’t happen. One doesn’t have to be a Trump supporter to recognize this, just not naive.”
Journalism is much, much, much more compelling than your imagination. And you ARE a trump supporter, so your ability to tell the difference between journalism and bullshit is suspect.
Mo Bro
@Carrie:
@Franklin:
Again: The terms “hate group” and “white supremacists” are labels given to Trump supporters (or anyone who isn’t liberal enough) by angry leftists. Just because someone calls Trump supporters “haters” does not make it true—unless you’re a gullible prog who believes every lefty opinion he reads . . . which, apparently, is the case here.
Franklin
@Mo Bro: Hate group and white supremacist are labels given to hate groups and white supremacists. The fact that you agree with some of these groups politics, doesn’t make this any less true.
Mo Bro
@Franklin:
The force (of delusion) is strong with this one.
Franklin
@Mo Bro: No sir. You are the one here refusing to accept reality. Most people involved and reporting on this incident seem to see the truth. But it seems like you and other alt-right people seem hell bent on wanting to be seen as persecuted noadays that it is distorting your perception.
elderan
@Mo Bro: there was nothing ever signed or agreed on, the night club has every right to refuse a venue regardless of political nature.
Mo Bro
@Franklin:
A liberal accuses me of playing the victim card?
That’s rich.
@elderan:
They have a right to discriminate? Oh yeah?
You’re obviously living somewhere other than America.