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G-A-Y club owner apologises after blaming ‘Somalis’ for rise in crime.

The owner of gay nightclubs Heaven and G-A-Y has apologised after suggesting that people from Somalia are responsible for rising crime in London.

Jeremy Joseph took to his public Facebook page this week to comment on a series of attacks in central London that took place over the Christmas break.

He wrote: “In the 9 days while I’ve been away, there has been 2 stabbings that I know of in central London, one was fatal, the scum gangs, somalians, drug dealers are on the increase.

“2017 New Year Resolution is to claim Soho back and get the scum off the street.

“The rise in crime is caused by the government cuts, Metropolitan Police Service are over stretched and don’t have the budget they need to fight crime, I don’t know the answer, but it’s time to try and find it. I want a safer Soho for 2017.”

Jeremy Joseph

He stated as fact that an increase in Somali people are responsible for crime in central London which, understandably, led to a string of angry responses.

Twitter uses were quick to respond with ‏@anorderlymess saying: “As a prominent member of LDN & Manchester’s gay community, Jeremy Joseph should be leading the fight against racism – not making it worse.”

Others soon added their views:

Jeremy Joseph

Jeremy Joseph

Later, however, Mr Joseph retracted the comments, admitting that he should not have highlighted that some of these gangs are Somali, even in the heat of the moment.

In a statement today he wrote: “I write this with a heavy heart and literally feel physically sick about what has happened over the the last 48 hours culminating in my being perceived as a racist.

“I put up a status that was badly worded and in hindsight, I can see why it has caused the offence and outrage it has and would like to state unequivocally that I am truly sorry for this.

“I was upset and saddened by the 2nd stabbing in 10 days in Soho, which has been taken over by knife-wielding gangs who consistently pose a threat to members of our community in general and have targeted popular gay nightspots as easy-pickings.

“The fact that some of these gangs are Somali is irrelevant and I should never have highlighted that fact, even in the heat of the moment which it was.

“Instead, I should have focused on my aim of wanting G-A-Y to be part of a safer Soho: we continue to work with The Met Police to try & make it safe for our customers and the entire LGBTQ Soho community in general which is under all manner of macroeconomic threats, which has seen so many of our gay spaces disappear.

“I hope people will believe me & together move on and work with members of the community including UK Black Pride in what we can do to increase diversity awareness within our community so that mistakes of the kind that I made are not repeated.

“I have reached out to them and hope that they take me up on my offer. Again I want to apologise & wish everyone a Happy New Year.”

Co-Founder & Director for UK Black Pride, Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, said in a Facebook Post: “UK Black Pride has called out this behaviour and will respond to an email from the owner, however racism is rife in the LGBT community. Gay people cannot call for equality while discriminating against others ~ I hope to hear voices amplified #NoSilence .”

 

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4 thoughts on “Jeremy Joseph apologises for racist outburst”

  1. I enjoyed the report and suppose you have more such material?
    If yes, so please post it since it’s somewhat unusual for me at the current moment, and not
    only for me, that is my opinion.

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