CLUB STAFF ACCUSED OF LAUGHING AS GAY MAN BEATEN
A patron of Babylon nightclub in Centurion has accused the club of allegedly doing nothing as he was severely beaten outside its doors.
Cor Van Niekerk of Pretoria has launched a Facebook campaign against the popular gay nightspot urging people to “stay away from Babylon unless you want to end up in Hospital”.
According to his reports posted on Facebook, Van Niekerk sustained a broken hip, severe bruising and lacerations and will apparently require six months of physiotherapy to fully recover.
Van Niekerk claims that, on Saturday 30 October, he was allegedly thrown out of the club by its bouncers after he had an argument with a straight man who accused him of flirting with his girlfriend.
Van Niekerk says that he was later attacked outside the club by the straight man and his friends as Babylon’s bouncers allegedly watched while laughing.
Babylon’s Bruce Walker told Mambaonline that Van Niekerk was heavily intoxicated on the night in question and was allegedly insulting people outside the venue and causing trouble.
“There’s three sides to every story. I am upset someone was assaulted in the car park but to say things that are just not true is not right,” said Walker
He also denied Van Niekerk‘s claim that Babylon – which also targets a straight clientele on Fridays under a different name – is owned by straight people.
Walker said that the incident was a matter for the centre’s security as it took place outside the club. He added that Babylon’s bouncers informed centre security as the incident was unfolding.
Attempts by Mambaonline.com to contact Van Niekerk directly were not successful at the time of writing.
Wtf?. I must say that i was one of those people that was outside when this happened and the story is so not true. This guy kept on going back trying to keep the fight going. Im utterly dissapointed in him trying to keep ppl away from the club. They did nothing wrong. Bruce, thanx as always for a great time at babs on halloween and keep ot going.
Reponse to wtf?. Hey Peter (if this is indeed your name?). From what you are stating, it is obvious that you were no way out there! I will know, you know why? Since I was out there and what you are saying is not at all what happened. Anyway, thanx for placing on record that you were out there and as such then could be called as a witness in testifying same. Hopefully we will be able to identify you out there on the security video footage. Please reply with your details so that we can remember to summons you as a witness to the events. Waiting in anticipation for your details. Ps. By the way, are you not a staff member at Babylon? If so, why not stating that also? You leave serious doubts buddy!
Hi cor.
I am not a staff member of the club at all. Im just telling what i saw. Maybe this was a different fight then. At what time did this fight happen. The one i was refering to was at about 5, half past 5. Is this the same fight? Cause the one that i saw tboth guys invloved were equally giulty in fighting and the club bounvers defenitely did stop the fight.
So thanx many for your reply. Hope you have a great time in court.
Response to …… Hey mate. The fight I was involved happened at about 3. It seems that the fight you were refering to was indeeed not the fight in which I was involved. We are aware of a second fight that night in which a gay guy was beaten up and his rental car was damaged. I have challenged Bruce on variou occasions now to disclose this information to all of us. Conveniantly he chooses to rather be silent on this second assault on gays at his club, that same evening.
dont back down. cor good luck!
i wish you all the best. this should never have happened and it exposes bruce for what he really is. a big liar.
my friend was man handled (not beaten up) at risque at the beginning of last year and bruce made a big story that it was his fault. it is always the same, not ever the bouncers fault but rather the clubber. the reality is bruce has no power with the bouncers – he claims he is the owner of these places but he is not and that is why he can’t do anything about it.
he is such a bigot and a big nasty greedy selfish man. the worst is he always says he is doing things for the community but he is only making money out of us. why do we continue to support such a horrible person.
Response on dont back down. Hi buddy, thanx for your support in this regard, much appreciated. I heard that Bruce is feeling the presure frim all over. Lucky for me I have a group of activists supporting me in rhis issue. Love these guys and they make sure all our fellow gays are updated on a daily basis. We are considering calling a protest action, by gays, infront of Babylon, if not this Saterday, then next Saterday. Indication from our mates is that something like this is needed and that we will receive attendance from at least 800 gays and supporters. We will call this protest and will do it the legal way by getting permission from all necessary authorities. Subsequently, we will have the back-up from the police and metro police. Hehehe
details please. PLEASE leave details here regarding how we can join the protest. Action is the only thing that will blow this issue wide open and expose the bigotry and homophobia that we have to put up with at these venues. I for one considered staging a peaceful one man protest with a banner outside Babylon: ‘CAUTION: GAY BASHERS DRINK HERE TOO!!’ But I may end up in hospital like you! Safety in numbers so pls keep us informed!
another 1. i’ll be there too
Response on details please. Hi Azayin. Thanx for your unquestionable support buddy. We will keep you and all the rest of our supporters updated On the planned protest action via the press, facebook, mambaonline etc. Keep in touch.
The real point is that someone was hurt in the view of SECURITY personnel. Euphemisms and slick glibbery aren’t enough to justify security personnel’s choice to ignore such a violent assault. All patrons deserve protection from aggression of this severity, especially in a state of acute intoxication and poor judgement – when you consider that he bought his booze from that same establishment.
Drunks. Sorry Barry
But I am a responsible person when going out making sure I do not get as intoxicated as Cor was that night, I am one of his friends (Cor) and he was looking for trouble with everyone, further more when we asked him to leave and go home he went outside and ten started with all the patrons who were coming into the club..The bouncers are not responsible for the car park but the entrance of the club and inside the club, the fighting outside the club is and was Cor own responsibility and been Gay or not been gay I am still a man and Cor has and can fight his own battles he himself has beaten up on the Gay community so what are you people making a fuss about cause it was his turn
Drunk Cor. You don’t know cor and you were not there. Besides that, if some straight idiot accuses me of flirting with his girlfriend inside a supposed to be gay club, I will also get angry. The fact is Babylon is responisible for their clients, whether they are in the club or not. Turning a blind eye for what happened in the parking lot is sickening. Wake up!
Drunks. Dear Mr Alias, who might you be stating being a friend of mine? Sorry mister, try and fool someone else with your allegations about me being drunk. I have no friends that would state stuff you do without disclosing their personal details. Why would you prefer to not disclose your real identity? Are you maybe employed at Babylon or have you been asked by them to make these remarkes? The fact is, very few of us takes serious what is stated by persons that, for whatever reason, are nameless.
their
Playing the drunk card. Hi Barry, exactly, to make money from us, they sell us alcohol, the more the better, since this pays the smart cars they drive. As always, when there is trouble at a club and management or the bouncers are involved, the easy way out is to play the drunk card and blaming the victim. Again being the case now. You know, today is a week after the incident and still the owner of Babylon had no decency to drop me a line and enquire about my wellbeing, not to mention appologise for what resulted from his club. Such a pitty, but tells the whole story. In fact, this failure of him to enquire about clients wellbeing, says it all. He gives a sh.t!
5 November. And so the shit begins…….
Gay Bashing @ Babylon. I/we appreciate your statement that everyone should feel safe when they go out clubbing and that what happened is unacceptable. However, you refer to the incident as the “so-called” gay bashing. Well, if it was not gay bashing ? …what was it then? Straights fighting in your parking lot? You claim that a gay patron was drunk and your security asked him to leave. Why did they ask him to leave? Was it because he was drunk or was it because he caused trouble? Are you saying that no straights were involved at all? (The fact is straights assaulted him ? not gays) and I quote your words “Babylon’s security asked him to stand outside and have a bite to eat and sober up.” That still does not pardon the Babylon bouncers to stand and look while a patron is being beaten up so badly as to land him in hospital? You claim the centre’s security took over as the fight were no longer on Babylon’s property. Are you saying the centre’s security should have prevented straights from battering the gay while your security wash their hands in innocence ? yet they observed what was happening and did nothing to prevent it? After all, the whole incident originated in your club! Gays are not stupid we know what straight bouncers are like. Playing the gay card as you state has nothing to do with it, by saying so you try and justify your 50% gay and 50% or more straight patronage on a gay supposed to be evenings. The constitution also allows freedom of association ? this bullshit of striving for equality does not work in real life. Oil and water does not mix and all over the world you will not find straights in gay clubs. Please advertise your club as an alternative venue instead of calling it gay. Don’t be a Pontius Pilatus by washing your hands free of guilt trying to blame the whole incident on the centre security SIES MAN!
OUTRAGEOUS!. What an unbelievable outrage for Bruce Walker to say that the incident had to be handled by centre security! READ BRUCE: No matter what state the victim was in or what trouble he caused while inside, he was a patron of YOUR VENUE!! Do patrons only enjoy the protection of security whilst inside and the moment they set foot outside, you forget about them? Let me guess: entrance fee paid? check Money spend at the bar? check. Of course, everything is A ok then huh? Your gay clientele should enjoy your loyalty first and foremost on gay nights and your staff should be way more tolerant toward those who have become intoxicated inside your venue. If this occured a block away from the venue your argument would have made sense, but right outside the doors? I CRY FOUL! Pathetic.
OUTRAGEOUS GALORE. Totally agree with you. They are quick to take your money. I wonder when is the next big fight?
Response on Outrageous. Hi Azayin. If only that Bruce would release the security video footage, then what you are stating would reflect same. I now challenged him various times to make available the footage, which challenges he conveniently choose to ignore. It makes us wonder why this total disregard for something so easy that can either only back or not back his stories.
wrong…. I personally avoid any club that has such a large mix of gay and straight people. The mix does not work and there is normally trouble.
It is one thing for straight friends to accompany a gay person , but a 50 /50 mix does not make a gay night. Advertiseing as a gay venue should stop. It is false.
I also agree with the general impression that it is soo wrong for bouncers to stand by and watch someone being beaten because it is outside the doors. Rip them off and then bear no responsibilty seems to be the golden rule when dealing with the gay population here. I have seen so many clubs come and go the same way .
This club will not last…
Bravo to Why not!. I agree fully. You are absolutely correct! Need I say more?
Response on whynot. I agree 100%. only in this matter, the bouncers knew that i would not leave it there, should they dare go as far as laying a finger on me. I clearly, that night, spelled it out to them, after being threatened to be ….. , should I not get in my car and leave the premises. Ps. It is easy to trace a bouncer of a club, since he is on the payroll of that club. This is not the case with the straight friends of these bouncers at Babylon, to trace them is far more difficult, but possible. This being reason for the main bouncer having stated to me that evening that he will not moer me, he will get someone from inside to do so. Need I say more? Luckly I was with some of my friends when, on two seperate occasions, Babylon bouncers were seen chatting with the two straights that attacked me seperatly, moments after chatting with the bouncers. In this case, those bouncers are not innocent as claimed by Bruce. In fact, they are 100% the cause of my injuries, assisted by their staight friends on the inside of the club. These are the facts and I again challenge Bruce to place the security video footage on Fb for all to see. Come on Bruce, why are you ignoring these challenges? Surely, if you do so, then there would not be further doubts of what really happened that night at your club! By the way, when do you plan to release a statement about the other gay that was also, that same night, beaten up at your club? I bet you pray this incident to fade away. Hahaha, not that easy for you mister. We will keep on demanding until you release, also in that matter, your statement. Wonder whether you also would pull the drunk card and limited bouncer responsibilities as excuses to justify the damage to his car and a broken nose?
Eish. People go to clubs to get to party and drink, drunk people sometimes cause trouble….If a club cannot handle problems and sort them out in a responsible way then don’t sell alcohol! Sell creme soda and sprite and the problems might go away! The least the club can do is look after their patrons. Saw this coming for quite some time and quite sure that this will not be the only time this happens….Hope they prove me wrong!
Sometimes people can be a handfull but bouncers just looking by while is patron is assaulted is seriously not acceptable – There is no excuse that will make this right
What a terrible excuse to shift the responsibility to centre security…Really!
I went to Babylon once and never went back because of the straight staff attitude!
know the law. it is the law that a venue is not allowed to let someone leave their premises severally intoxicated. if the person has become intoxicated inside the venue, it is required by law to have an area inside where the patron must be seated and assited to get sober. If the venue asks him to leave and somethig happens to him because of his intoxication, the responsibility falls 100% onto the venue!
Eish. Hi Cody, so true what you are saying. Babylon’s owner/owners, whoever they are, will and have never complained about selling alcohol to us. In fact, the more they sell the happier they are. Getting drunk in their club is actually of no concern to them. The more you drink the better cars they drive etc. Funny how, if questions are asked, the drunk issue surface. Mr Babylon’s owner, get your facts straight, i was in you ckub for no longer than 20 minutes and havent even finished my first drink in your club, before being chucked out by your bouncers, defending a straight that claims I was flirting with his wife. Ha? Wake up musclemary, i am gay!
Human Decency. Regardless of the fact that this man was assaulted outside the venue, regardless of if he was drunk and causing trouble and looking for shit the humane thing to do when you as a bouncer see a fight of this magnitude taking place where a person has been beaten so bad he has to be admitted to a hospital, you step in, break the fight up, call management who should then call the cops and let the parties be arrested for assault etc.
Didn’t some lesbian get beaten up outside Risque last year sometime by a bouncer?
Surely this is not something the gay community would like as a trend wondering if you’re going to get an ass kicking when you walk out the club and the scary thing knowing no one will help you.
better late than never. it is so depressing that we gays settle for this.
have you not realised what idiots bruce takes us for and you know what, he works us and gets away with it.
he talks about doing things for the community all the time.
really? he is the guy that failed straight club owners call to save their dying club by putting a gay night into it – a straight club.
look at risque? a previous strip club turned “gay” by bruce only to have to share it with sugar.
then recess – turned “gay” by bruce into babylon on to have it shared with recess.
now we have casablanca – turning “gay” by bruce into heaven!
and you know what – it is porbably going to be packed.
when will the gays wake up.
he has never built a gay club, for gays only. he has never taken his money and invested in the gay market.
instead, he makes these deals with the straight clubs that he will take all the door money and they take the bar.
so all he ever has done is take from us, not invest!
this “emperor” is walking naked in the road past his subjects showing of his “new clothes” and no-one has the courage to exposed him for the naked fool he is
wake-up people – he will justify away everything that happens but he is only worried about his wallet not us gays.
until then – if you party at these staight clubs with bruce’s “gay” night then take responsibilty for all the shit that happens there.
B
Risque, Babylon, Heaven. I fully agree with the comments made by ‘please wake up’. It’s has become painfully obvious that the owner of these venues (BRUCE WALKER) has got one aim only for these venues: making money. I have personally experienced homophobia at Risque from straights that got drunk and aggressive. I am not someone who will back away from a fight when I know I am being treated unfairly. After the incident of the lesbian being assaulted at Risque and now this one at Babylon, I will have to think twice before standing up for my rights at one of these venues. Why? Because Bruce Walker can not and WILL NOT guarantee the safety of his gay patrons. What does this mean for me as a gay man? Must I now just accept that I may be gay bashed by homophobic straights at these venues? Bruce Walker you must please wake up!! Your actions and INactions are alienating a lot of gays from your venues. Your insistence on having a 50/50 gay/str8 mix at a so-called ‘gay’ club is not working and is misleading to gays. LISTEN UP: WE WILL NOT SHARE OUR VENUES WITH HOMOPHOBES! EJECT THEM FROM THE GAY VENUES, NOT THE GAYS! To the gay community at large: STAY AWAY FROM BRUCE WALKER’S VENUES: HEAVEN, BABYLON, RISQUE. He is using you to enrich himself and your interests mean nothing to him. Sela
100%. ALL the gay clubs around are straight clubs that have fizzled out and then get handed over to us gays to bring in the people and money. problem is once this starts happening, the straights come back and because the place is owned by straights, it is inevitable that us gays will come off second best.
where is the new blood doing new things in the scene?
why do people still support the likes of bruce? i mean he thinks that brining hazel frigging dean to perform is cool! what an insult to our bloody sense of pride! he had soo much to say about sonqiue coming to perform and then he presents us with hazel dean?
our scene is either so naive or we really are the most unsophisticated bunch of idiots.
ps – does it not insult anyone else’s intellignece to read how the bouncers of babylon LOOKED on while the guy was being fucked up and bruce tries to say that it was not their responsibility! wtf wow!
Avoid straight clubs. As to now I have not received any comments from Bruce on my previous questions. Cor does have valid arguments. Can we see the footage and read affadavits from the “hot dog man”? A word of good advice to gays – avoid straight venues. Support genuine gay venues. We do have a good club like that in Pretoria.
Response on avoid straight clubs. Hi Jan. I honestly believe Bruce is by all means trying to avoid commenting on the issue of the video footage and also the issue of the other gay youngster that was beaten up at Babylon that same evening I was assaulted. Wonder what his excuse for not responding to these demands would be, once the pressure is climbing.
Some objectivity guys!. These responses have become a Bruce-bashing forum, which is totally useless and pointless.
Cor, I don’t know you, but if what you claim is true, then you have every right to sue the guys that actually attacked you outside the venue. That should be your focus.
However, you are causing everyone to lose objectivity by fuelling this Bruce-bashing forum. Bruce is a businessman – he is in it for the money. He is not the gay community’s guardian angel just because he promotes gay nights at clubs.
A word of advice: Be objective. Be truthful. Stick to the facts. Admit to your own role in causing the fight (if any), and follow normal legal channels to get justice. Only if that fails, do you and the rest of us have the right to protest and take action.
Put aside the anger the desire for revenge, and use your brain!
call it what it is. i dont agree with you. unfortunately you are dealing with a liar who doesnt waste a moment to spread mistruths about anything and everything that is a threat to his greed.
worse still, he has downright misled us for years now. do you remember the gay h20? ok, lets forgive the fact that it rained the night before and turned the pool into a swamp BUT everything else that was promised on the flyer was not delivered. we still paid our FULL door charge but once inside and realised that it was a big lie, we complained and wanted to leave immediately and get a refund. the bouncer that KICKED US OUT told us that bruce didnt have the authority to refund us? and we were told to leave!
there are many many other incidents and each time the customer comes off 2nd best.
so who is bruce then – he says he is the owner of risque and the owner of babylon. if he is then cor has every right to hold him responsibile for his staff which include the bouncers.
i’d be very interested to see the security video. it would solve all the problems and if things went down how bruce claims then it can absolve him. why isnt he releasing it.
this isnt bruce-bashing. it is exposing someone who advertises his venues to our community. with that comes responsibilty and if you have advertised a gay club then a gay-bashing incident should NEVER ever occur.
Babylon. We have been there once – was shit – after reading this- we will NEVER support that shit-hole again…
fucking puking straights everywhere you look!
Response. Hi Martin. Thanx for your input mate. It is much appreciated. I fully agree with you stating that we should keep to the truth and facts. It is a pitty that Bruce chose to make a statement that now haunts him. It is he who stated that gays can not be protected by his bouncers when there is a fight in the parking area. He stated that in such insidences we gays will have to rely on the centre security to help us against being bashed by whoever. For the other untruefull things that had been stated by him, in order to focus the blame 100% on me ie me being a drunk, me insulting other patrons etc, he was challenged to release the security video footage for all to see who are truthfull and who is the lier in this matter. Bruce, so far, conveniently chose to remain silent on the matter of releasing the video footaga. Wonder why? Has he got something to hide? Would the footage show that I was assaulted a mere 4 meters from Babylon’s main entrance, while his bouncers were looking on? Will it show how my cellphone was smacked out of my hands when i tried to phone my friends that were still inside? Who has something to hide? Is it me or is it Bruce and his bouncers? Ps. I heard from friends today that word is doing the rounds that now , the latest is that I am also slandered as a druggie by them. Apparently I was so full of drugs that no one could keep house with me. Hahaha. Bruce, you beter get your facts straight. For your information, I never ever in my life have used drugs and Everyone that knows me would be more rhan willing to testify in this regard. Be careful Bruce, your slander will only get you in more trouble. When do you think Bruce will do the press release on the other gay guy that was also assualted that very same Saterday evening? Consedering the above, don’t you think we gays deserve answers and better treatment from guys like these? At least respond and make known on what you know about the other poor guy who’ nose was broken and who’s car had been kicked in dents. To end, do you know that a week had passed and still Bruce or none of the other owners had the decency to at least phone and find out whether I am doing okay, yet they rather spend their time and energy threatening me with indertics to remain silent and also threatening me with defamation. Maybe calling the protrst action is not such a bad idea at all?
all talk. cor – i dont agree with happene to you at all. however, it seems that you just want to vent and vent on this forum.
have you laid a charge with the police? have you started a case against babylon/bouncers/bruce/security?
have you started anything legal?
like you said it’s been over a week. either you are serious or just a bag of hot air.
you have been violated and there is a case to make. either make your case, stand behind what you say by bringing some action forward or then please keep quiet.
writing 500 word coments is not going to right this wrong.
either do something or lay off. i agree with martin.
i cant wait for this article to fall off mamba’s homepage then the story will be gone.
do something with your 15mins or just let it go by wasted
Response. Be assured that this is not a matter of all talk. Lyttelton police inspectors visited me while I was in hospital last week. A report was furnished to my doctor to complete. Unfortunately we have received indication from the hospital that the doctor is on a seminar until 12 November, whereafter the medical report will be available for collection by the SAPS. I do believe that this matter will be in full swing once the medical report had been optained.
Bliksem those straights. Cor, give me the names of those bastards, I will take their eyes out with my tiekiehak and then drive over Bruce with my 4X4
Response. Hi butch. Must say, you made me grin with those comments. Nice to have a bit of humour in this matter. Good for you buddy. Ps. I think there are lots of us waiting for the names of those culprits. Have a good evening mate.
also beaten up before. Martin, you don’t know what it is to land up in hospital after what was supposed tom be a night out with friends to a “gay” club. I was beaten up a few months ago at Legends by straights who had a mission against “faggots”. I don’t blame Cor at all for his vendetta against clubs pretending to be gay venues. I support the only genuine gay club in Pretoria called Detour in Moreletapark The owners are known for their strict control and refusal of straights. Martin, why don’t you and other gays rather support them instead of crusifying Cor?
Response on beaten up. Hi Petit. Sorry to hear that you had to go through the same I am going through. Hope you are okay by now. I agree with you on the issue of Detour and its owners. Never in the three years I have been there, I was involved in incidents like these. Furthermore, I also never witnessed something like this happening at Detour. From many of the personal messages I have received on my facebook profile, this same topic is raised time and again by our fellow gays & lesbians, commenting on this matter.
Confused- who is Babylon’s owner. I today received a call from a guy, if I recall correctly, calling himself Heinz something and claiming to be the owner of Babylon. This person required my physical address, apparently for reasons of serving court papers on me ie defamation and interdicting me to exercise my right of freedom of speech. I thus far was under the impression that Bruce is the owner of Babylon a gay club. Am I going to also be surprised that not only is Babylon not only a club for gays, but that it belongs to someone other than Bruce, or that this Heinz person is his partner. Is there anyone that can cause light on this matter? As a matter of interest, I told this Heinz person that he can find my address himself. What nerve he has to phone me and ask me for my address, do do what with? Could it be that he wants to send someone to break my other hip, or shut my mouth for good?
about bruce. yes bruce is not the owner of any of the clubs he works at although he tells everyone that his is. he is the host but he cant get to grips with the fact that he really is only that. he has never spent his own money to build a club for the gay community. he is a leach with a big frigging mouth. its time his lies are exposed.
ps babylon is owned by heinz – he’s gay.
Legal wise. Under no circumstances give any of your personal details to them. This matter is obviously heading to the courts and you don’t need more intimidation from these thugs. You need legal representation. Any calls to you should from this point be directed to your legal adviser, they should not be dealing with you directly at all.
Legal wise. Just as a matter of caution to you Cor: you need to refrain from making emotional and loaded comments, especially on a public forum. What should be happening right now is that legal proceedings should get underway and the matter should either be settled out of court by both parties’ legal teams or in court if no settlement can be agreed upon. Unfortunately this is an emotional matter and it’s very tempting to make statements on here. However, to make statements like:(‘Could it be that he wants to send someone to break my other hip, or shut my mouth for good?’) will only harm your case and can actually be used against you as defamation. Don’t get me wrong. I fully support you and any action against Babylon, but you need to be smart! This matter will not be on the mamba page for much longer. Please be sure to direct us to any other links (like facebook ) before it falls of the page. The unfortunate thing is that once it’s off this page people will tend to forget (out of sight, out of mind) and I’m sure that is exactly what Babylon is hoping will happen! AGAIN: get legal representation, contact OUT and the Pride board for advice on how to prodeed etc. All the best to you and good luck!
Update. Hi all. Just to update you with the latest events. I yesterday had an interview with Yolanda Barnard from the Son news paper. This morning while busy interviewing Bruce on this issue, she phoned me to find out ehether I will be willing to resolve this matter in a different way by meeting with Bruce and maybe get to a settlement, as well as strategise a way forward in dealing with the culprits/bashers. Bruce and I arranged to meet at 12:00 on Friday at my place. I will keep you updated with what transpires from this meeting between us. If there is anything you would also like to me to raise with Bruce, on behalf of the gay community, please respond hereon. Again, thanx for all your support. Regards. Cor