The Academy suspends security guard due to viral video sparking racism allegations

Popular Dublin city nightclub The Academy has suspended a security guard and opened an investigation after a video of an altercation outside the venue went viral.

The video footage taken on November 19th shows a man being refused entry to the venue by the door staff. The man calmly asks why others were allowed in and not him, to which security replied, "He doesn't have to give a reason. It's private property."

They later claim that "there's no more tickets available," although the video clearly shows others being let in without tickets. The man questions this, saying, "Give me one reason why you didn't let me in," to which the security guard clarifies: "There are no tickets for you."

The video quickly went viral on TikTok and Twitter, with the public consensus that this was a racially motivated altercation.

Shine, The Academy's management company, released their statement on the matter yesterday.

It read, "We are deeply concerned by the video circulating on social media of an incident outside The Academy on Saturday night during out weekly late night club. As a result, a member of the Event Sec security team has been suspended from duty pending further detailed investigation. In the interim, a new door team will be in operation at the venue from today, at our request."

They continued, "We would take this opportunity to reach out to the person impacted in this video, and we wish to invite him back to the venue, and will be arranging asap."

A statement from The Academy. pic.twitter.com/CEN2e8W8Wk

— The Academy Dublin (@academydublin) November 21, 2022

Nigerian-born English singer songwriter Jacob Banks put pressure on The Academy to release their statement before his scheduled performance there on Monday evening.

"I'm meant to be playing your venue today and I won't be playing unless this is addressed within the next 4 hours," he wrote. "The video suggests that its racism at play... I need answers, an apology and compensation offered to the gentleman in the video... do the right thing, with haste please."

https://t.co/prAFsrZ5S5 pic.twitter.com/fzaLodDAe3

— Jacob Banks (@MrJacobBanks) November 21, 2022

Banks accepted the statement, replying "Thanks for doing the right thing, see you tonight Dublin" and went on with the show.

Shine's investigation into the incident is still ongoing.