In part 1 of Last Call For Racism Toronto we addressed our concerns about anti-black racism within Toronto’s nightlife industry and researched 21 popular Toronto nightclubs via their social media feeds, Google reviews and speaking with former employees and guests.
The industry cannot move forward until we expose the truth about anti-black racism inside Toronto’s nightlife, which generally starts from ownership level down. We have provided (below) several stories on racism and anti-blackness inside a popular restaurant/nightclub on King Street West .
Thank you to the brave people who came forward to share their experience. If you or anyone you know has experienced or witnessed racism in the nightlife and hospitality industry and would like to share their story, please contact us at lastcall4racism@gmail.com or send us a DM on our Instagram page @lastcalltoronto. All individuals will remain anonymous.
Employee Account #1
In spring/summer 2019, only one dark skin black woman was on the bottle service team of over a dozen white or white-passing bottle servers. Many believed she was tokenized.
A member of executive management made statements about not liking the employee’s natural hairstyle.
One of the floor managers was pressured by the same member of executive management to make extra compliments when the employee came in wearing a wig so she would not wear her natural hairstyle.
Employee Account #2
On the second day on the job he didn’t come [into work] in proper uniform. A member of executive management asked him why he was not dressed and the employee explained that he did not have proper attire yet because he still had to buy it. The member of upper management took that as having an “attitude” then told another manager to fire him and didn’t know what “his n****r problem was.” The employee lasted 2 days.
Employee Account #3
After a scathing article in BlogTO regarding discrimination toward the LGBTQ+ community, an executive manager asked one of the floor managers to request a letter from a transgender employee and a gay employee to say how “great” they were treated at the venue.
Employee Account #4
The door staff denied the employee’s black friend at the door for not being up to “dress code” with his sneakers, however several older white men with sneakers were allowed entry.
Employee Account #5
After friends were denied entry at the door the employee asked the manager for assistance, the (non-black) manager then asked “Are they urban?”
Employee Account #6
Toronto's nightlife industry is beyond racist. I have experienced the harsh realities of it and it’s time for us to call them out! As a dark skin woman, most of my clubbing experiences have involved some form of discrimination or straight up racism. For starters, I’ve been denied entry at certain clubs (Lost, Wildflower, EFS) because they were at “capacity”, meanwhile, they let a group of lighter skinned or white women into the club with no hesitation. This has happened on multiple occasions and has even happened when I’ve been on guest list or had reservations of my own.
I’ve experienced situations where I’ve been asked by promoters to bring my non-black friends out to party with them. I was so appalled. Many people who work in the industry are very colorist and they do not hide it. I have worked in the restaurant and nightlife industry for three years and have experienced racist comments and microaggressions made by management.
A popular bar that I worked at explicitly told staff that they did not want to attract the “Caribana” crowd and that we were instructed to play music that would not attract those kinds of people. I find it funny that the concept of that specific bar was based on hip hop culture.
There is also a lack of diversity within the industry, where many black women are not hired as bottle service girls but instead as hostess, kitchen staff or support staff. Lavelle is a club that has consistently shown that they are colorist, racist and lack diversity among staff. Their restrictions usually target predominately black people because of the flashy culture and lifestyle that may come with it. They don’t seem to re enforce those rules when there's a group of non-black men or women looking to spend money at their venue. Their lack of diversity is overwhelming as they had 1-2 black bottle service girls. The majority of bottle girls that worked at Lavelle were white, Asian, light skinned or racially ambiguous.
I had a guest ask me how I got hired at Lavelle due to their lack of diversity and their experiences of racism while attending the venue. I was blown away that a guest had not only noticed but I can’t say that I’m surprised that they experienced discrimination as well. It makes me very sad to see what Toronto's nightlife culture has become. It has been taken over by a lot of non-black people who are racist and colorist and who profit off the benefits of black culture, but making it a mission to exclude black people from the culture that they started. I hope that with the amount of awareness and information that is being shared will allow for positive changes that include everyone.
Employee Account #7
I worked at Lavelle for a few months before I got fed up and quit. I was shocked to see that people were so accepting of problematic behaviour. Racial profiling was a common occurrence, not only towards our guests, but towards the staff as well. I worked at the door on most weekends and I witnessed white patrons being treated with much more respect and patience while black patrons were talked to rudely and threatened with security more often. So many black and brown people gave their sweat and tears to this establishment, only to be treated like garbage or wrongfully fired. There were also instances where I would hear management say the n-word freely around the restaurant along with other white employees.
I was fairly new at the time and didn’t feel comfortable speaking up. Lavelle is a complete joke of an establishment and I do hope that the management/ownership team is completely overhauled.
Employee Account #8
Working in the nightlife industry requires a lot of confidence due to the constant inequality and microaggressions that are often experienced while working in the industry. Although everyone needs a great level of confidence to work in this type of industry, when you are black I believe that’s taken to a whole other level. Micro aggressions were very prevalent at Lavelle. From venue photographers shifting the camera to take pictures of the white bottle girls whenever I was doing a bottle show, to being the first one cut whenever nightlife began and many more incidents, all addressed and all dismissed.
I noticed it was happening to my fellow black coworkers as well and even worse to black guests. Even though the venue would be filled with black people the photographer seemed to only take pictures of the white guests to advertise the venue. In addition, the Nightlife club scene in Toronto as well as the restaurant business as a whole has a certain culture to it where the majority of the front of house workers are white females, and being one of the few black females in the venue, made it hard to fit in and feel comfortable.
On more than one occasion I’d hear managers speaking on the type of crowd they don’t want to let inside the venue and they would describe them as “gangsters”, “hoodmans” and “rowdy” often forcing staff to make up reasons such as dress code to not allow that “type” in. Lavelle recently changed their “vibe” to a more “upscale” audience and as soon as that was implemented the crowd became predominantly white middle aged men; which to me felt like they were going out of their way to limit the amount of black people in their venue.
Hearing my managers say to me and other staff that they don’t want to let “that type” in, and hearing their snarky comments regarding that type, makes me wonder what they would say about me or about my fellow coworkers that may also dress or look like the type they don’t want to let in.
Employee Account #9
The nightclub industry glorifies their scene as ‘urban’ and ‘hip’, indulging in the music that originated from people of colour. For the majority, hip hop, R&B and Latin music have been the main sound for most clubs. Although they show preference to such music, this is not reflected in their desired clientele. Working in the industry for a few years has been eye opening to experience such a harsh reality, where POC are viewed as second class. I worked in a very popular bar on King Street where upper management is the root of the problem. Lavelle has striven to keep a scene that pushes POC out and have attempted to execute this through their “policies.” Although they claim it to be for their dress code, the backdoor comments elicit an alternative motive; management claiming that they are trying to keep Lavelle safe from “gangs” etc. Even though they have POC workers, if any were to speak out against them, you’ll be shown how easily replaceable you are.