Virat Kohli’s restaurant chain faces controversy over alleged homophobia

Team Udayavani, Nov 16, 2021, 4:04 PM IST

Image posted on Instagram

New Delhi: Refuting allegations of discriminating entry rules for gay community members, the Pune outlet of One8 Commune, a restaurant chain owned by India cricket team captain Virat Kohli, clarified that the outlet welcomes all irrespective of their gender or preferences.

On Monday, the LGBTQIA+ group ‘YesWeExistIndia’ took to Instagram and tagged Virat Kohli while accusing the outlet of practising discriminatory policies.

“@virat.kohli you are probably not aware of this, but your restaurant @one8.commune in Pune discriminates against LGBTQIA+ guests. The other branches too have a similar policy. This is unexpected and unacceptable. Hope you make necessary changes asap. @deepigoyal @zomato – either do a better job at sensitising restaurants or stop providing your platform to businesses that discriminate. Often it’s the high-end restaurants that practise such discriminatory policies; the ones that you most likely get large sums of ad money from. This needs to end,” the post read.

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As per a media report, a group of gay men had been denied entry to the restaurant.

The outlet however termed the allegations as baseless and said that they have a prohibition of stag entry policy which is in conformity with government rules.

Clarifying their stance on the allegations, One8 commune issued a statement stating, “At one8 Commune, we believe in welcoming all people irrespective of their gender and/or preferences with utmost respect and honour. As our name denotes, we have always been inclusive in serving all communities since our inception.”

“Similar to industry-wide practice and in conformity with government rules, we obviously have a prohibition of stag entry. policy (subject to necessary relaxation) in place so as to ensure a safe and enjoyable environment for our guests.

That does not in any way. mean that our company policy provides any discriminatory entry rules for/against any particular community,” it added.