Alleged Incident of Racism at Cherry Discotheque

On Saturday, 27 August 2022, a group of people who paid $1,600 for a sofa at Cherry Discotheque had their night ruined due to alleged racial profiling by the club’s bouncers.

Wake Up, Singapore has spoken to several individuals from the group of 18 patrons who were involved in the incident. There were 5 Indians in the group.

According to our sources, an Indian member of the group arrived at Cherry at or around 9.30pm on 27 August 2022. Most of the rest of the group had already entered earlier (including 4 Indians). As his group already had a reservation, he found it unusual that he had to wait in line for more than 10 to 15 minutes.

When he noticed that other people had no issues receiving the entry chop, he politely asked the bouncer about the delay. The bouncer then called the person from the group who had made the booking on behalf of the group for a chat.

During the chat, the staff member told the member of the group that they may deny entry to suspicious looking Indian or Malay people. The staff member added that an additional “filter” was people who looked like they could start a fight. Reference was also made to the term “YP”, a shorthand for “young punks”. “YP” is a term that is used to refer to young thuggish people.

Understandably, the member of the group who heard the staff member’s reasoning was dumbfounded and pressed the staff for an explanation.

He double confirmed the existence of such a “filter”, and asked if he fell into this so-called “filter”. The staff member answered him in the affirmative.

Presumably to supplement his denial of entry, the staff member also stated that the group was “too big”. The group that pointed him to Cherry’s own $1,600 package which entitled them to bring 20 people to the club.

According to sources, the staff member also told the group that the group had “no standards to talk cock with him”. One of the members of the group who had a tattoo on his arm was also called a “gangster”.

Police were called in to the scene

Wanting to settle the matter in a professional manner, the group called the Police. This call was also made because the staff member had allegedly made reference to advice by the authorities in respect of entry policies, but could not furnish any proof whatsoever for the same.

When the police arrived, the group told the police officers what happened earlier and the staff’s reasons for denying them entry. Members of the group and the staff were interviewed by the police.

The police confirmed that there was no such advisory in respect of Cherry’s entry policies from the authorities. During the exchange, the staff member only made reference to an alleged letter that was purportedly sent by Cherry’s lawyers to the Police and not any official communique from any authority.

Eventually, the group were given a refund. Almost immediately after the incident, one member of the group posted the following message on their Instagram story.

Reflecting on the incident, one member of the group expressed deep disappointment.

Oh well, I have lived with racism ever since I was young and I’m sure I’m not the only one, but I have NEVER expected it to come to this extent of racism or racial profiling.

This is damn disappointing considering the fact that we live in Singapore, a MULTI-RACIAL AND COHESIVE COMMUNITY and the fact that we say the pledge almost every single day growning up, like my friend mentioned what happened to “regardless of RACE, LANGUAGE OR RELIGION”?

Another member of the group said that it would be the last time they will be patronising Cherry.

Not the first time?

When asked about his thoughts on the incident, one member of the group stated that it was “honestly not the first time he had heard of racial profiling, but experiencing it first hand was disappointing and embarrassing. He also said that the staff member’s actions were reflective of “such a backwards thinking mentality”.

https://www.tiktok.com/@glenshizzlez/video/7136210022098275586

In the comments section of a TikTok video by Glennice on Cherry, some users who were unrelated to the group that were denied entry also made reference to incidents of racial discrimination.

Ironically, one member of the group involved in the 27 August incident noted that they had seen Glennice’s video prior to the incident that same day.

In her video, Glennice made reference to past incidents of alleged discrimination in Cherry and exhibited extracts from an article by The Parrot Review published in January 2021.

Glennice added that she was surprised to see her friends still supporting Cherry.

After several TikTok users asked Glennice to elaborate upon these allegations, she published a follow-up video which was viewed more than 50,000 times at press time.

https://www.tiktok.com/@glenshizzlez/video/7136231136421874945?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&lang=en

TikTok Video by April77 on the 27 August Incident

One member of the group involved in the 27 August 2022 incident also published a TikTok video, which has since chalked up almost 100,000 views.

In the video, the woman made reference to a comment from Glennice’s video (exhibited above and in the top left corner of the video) and recounted what happened to her and her group of friends on 27 August 2022.

She said that the video was intended to raise awareness about the “disgusting and utterly racist” incident.

https://www.tiktok.com/@aprli77/video/7137150060483071234?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7092076109218727426

TikTok user Blodreina, who responded to April77’s video, alleged that her friends and her had a similar experience with Cherry.

Another TikTok user, Uncle Raymond, made reference to Cherry’s Google Reviews.

When this correspondent checked, Cherry had a Google Review rating of 2.4 stars out of 5. Out of 187 reviews, 23 had made reference to bouncers.

This comment by Bworld from 5 months ago made mention of allegedly racist behaviour from bouncers.

The last 19 reviews on Google of Cherry were rated 2 stars or less. The last review that received more than 2 stars was dated 2 years ago.

Cherry’s Apology and Explanation

In response to queries from Wake Up Singapore about the 27 August 2022 incident, Cherry sincerely apologised” on behalf of the operations staff “for the emotional and mental distress he caused due to insensitive remarks made”.

Cherry took full “full responsibility for the actions of said staff” but made it clear that it does not “condone or agree with the comments and actions that were made on the alleged night”. It noted that the staff member’s actions does not directly reflect the way Cherry wants to operate.

The club noted that it understands “the gravity of the racism claims” and recognised “how the club might be perceived should we opt to lay low”.

Wake Up Singapore first reached out to Cherry at 2.20am on 28 August 2022, just a few hours after the incident. We received a response from Cherry on 6 September 2022 after sending several chasers. Cherry apologised for the missed emails and explained that the social media team had just brought our queries to the attention of management.

Cherry’s Staff relieved from all duties

Cherry revealed that since the allegations surfaced, an internal investigation was launched and measures had been taken against the errant staff.

When pressed on what measures were taken, Cherry stated that the staff has been released of all duties since the start of internal investigations:

Based off the allegations made against the staff and the amount of distress caused alone, the management made the call to release the staff of all duties since the start of the internal investigation.

Wake Up Singapore has asked Cherry to clarify whether this is a temporary measure pending the conclusion of the internal investigation or a permanent one. We will update this article once we receive their response.

It also noted that although CCTV footage captures interaction between Cherry’s staff and the group, they were unable to provide an official transcript of the communications between the staff and the group because “it could not be verified”.

Cherry also clarified that the staff member’s actions do not reflect Cherry’s entrance policy and made clear that it does not have any discriminatory quotas in place against minorities.

The primary role of all security teams in clubs is to ensure that operations run smoothly with all official regulations being met while maintaining order should it be required.

While it is the club’s responsibility to keep our club goers and property safe with the right to deny entries to the best of our knowledge/abilities, we definitely do not have a quota in place that discriminates against any minorities.