Cirque Le Soir has responded to Mark Ingram’s claim that he and some of his teammates were denied entry into the swank London club because of race. TMZ is reporting that a rep from Cirque says Ingram was denied entry because he violated the club’s “door policy” and had too many dudes with him.
The rep said:
“We proudly celebrate diversity, not only as part of our shows, but as part of who we are. We would not dismiss anyone as ‘too urban’ and we would not turn anyone away on the basis of their ethnicity, sexuality or any other characteristic – other than those expressed in our door policy.
Cirque’s “door policy” says they “particularly discourage casual dress code, intoxicated customers & male heavy entourages.”
A couple things here. Anyone that has been to a club or lounge knows this is generally the policy. The folks at the door have the right to refuse admittance to anyone they deem unworthy to enter. Usually that means if you’re not dressed well or if you have too many guys in your party you won’t be allowed to enter. Is it discriminatory? Yes, but those are the nightlife scene rules. Clubs always want more women than men for obvious reasons.
But usually when you make a reservation for a club or a lounge they will ask you how many people are in your party and what is the male/female ratio? Is there no record of this anywhere? Did Ingram say there would be women, but there weren’t? Also, there was no mention of the word “urban” by the Cirque rep. Did Ingram make that up?
The rep continued:
Discretion lies with our door staff and while we sympathise with Mark and his friends we fully support our employees’ right to challenge groups that do not adhere to our door policy. Admitting an all-male group goes against our policy and is clearly stated on Facebook and on all reservation confirmation emails.
The thing about the “door policy” is the idea of discretion. There doesn’t really have to be a reason you deny someone. Which means if someone were racist or prejudiced against certain people it would be easy to hide behind the “door policy.” It’s all subjective and unfortunately you can’t prove a negative.
To Cirque’s credit they say Mark and his teammates are welcome to come back, as long as they bring women. There is more to this story. Let’s see if Ingram responds.