‘Hamilton’ star Giles Terera accuses London bar of racism

Team Udayavani, Dec 1, 2019, 2:34 PM IST

London: “Hamilton” actor Giles Terera has alleged that he and his friends were racially profiled and denied entry at a London bar.

Terera, a winner of Olivier Award for the Boradway musical, narrated the incident on Twitter and said after them, a group of “white punters” were allowed into the ‘Aint Nothin But… Blues Bar’.

“I just took a group of 8 Black actors who I’m directing in a play about American blues musicians to Aint Nothin But The Blues bar in soho. We were racially profiled and refused entry as 10 white punters were allowed in past us unchecked. WTF

@AintNothinBut1 (sic)” he wrote in a post.

“This group of talented, and hard working actors was left devastated, confused and upset while the manager said ‘I dont care who you are or what you are.’ That this happens anywhere is a f***ing disgrace, the fact it happens at a venue which also exploits Blues music is sick,” he added.

The bar, however, has denied Terera’s claims and offered its own side of story in a statement posted on Twitter.

“It is a shame people can just put these things up without having the facts correct. No one was refused entry. They were id’d inside the Bar and it was found some of the group did not have id.

“Therefore they could not be served. It is a shame they then have to try and use the ‘race’ card to intimidate the staff. Just because the next group happened to be white, they were a different age group, so were served,” the statement read.

The bar said it now has “an unfair reputation which we cannot properly respond to”.

“We have regular customers, and staff, who are black. It makes no difference to us what colour people are,” it added.

Terera is yet to respond to the bar’s rebuttal of his claim.