The manager of a popular Greenwood Village nightclub has been placed on leave while his bosses investigate allegations that he deliberately excluded black patrons because he feared they would drive away white customers.
The manager at the Purple Martini in the Denver Tech Center was placed on paid leave Thursday, Purple Martini owner Will Coleman said. The allegations first appeared on the My Space page of Ishmahd Shabazz, a well-known local DJ who works occasionally at the club under his stage name, DJ Big Spade.
Shabazz said the club manager approached him Aug. 3 and told him not to play music that appeals to a “hip-hop crowd.”
“It’s getting too dark in here, and frankly it’s scaring away my white customers,” Shabazz quoted the manager as saying. “We’re going to do something a little controversial this week. We’re gonna select who comes in so there will be a line early.”
Shabazz, who is black, said he was appalled.
“It was totally based on race,” Shabazz said Thursday. “I didn’t know any other way to take it.”
Coleman, who is also black, said he takes the allegations seriously. But he said he is suspicious of them because they come from people who often promote events at competing clubs.
He said the DTC Purple Martini began strictly enforcing a dress code this month after police warned the owners that gang activity was taking place at a nearby club. Coleman said his club manager may have been trying to follow that policy.
“We’ve prided ourselves on diversity,” Coleman said.
Shabazz said he first took his concerns to the manager at the downtown Purple Martini, and promoter Kevin Kain, who was also at the club Aug. 3, said he spoke with one of the owners of the clubs about the matter. But both said nothing happened until Thursday, when Shabazz began circulating his post widely.
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
