Bar gives perfect riposte to homophobic email

The owner of a bar in London’s Camden Town cancelled an “international car brand’s” Christmas party after receiving an email from the company asking if it was a “gay bar”.

Alex Proud, owner of Proud Camden

Alex Proud, who owns Proud Camden, received the email on Thursday which stated that some of its staff had been told Proud was a gay bar, and if so they would need to make some of its employees “aware” as it is “against some people’s religion”.

Alex Proud promptly responded with an email reading: “I think best we cancel your visit. We are pretty gay and a lot of gay stuff happens here. Gay drinks, gay food, gay loos etc….Sorry to disappoint. Booking cancelled.”

The exchange was posted on Twitter by Mr Proud with the words: “So this happened. Major International car brand sent this homophobic email. Really shocked this still happens.”

In a second tweet he said: “Homophobia is homophobia, I don’t care what religion you are.”

Writing in his column in The Telegraph, Proud explained why he went public with the exchange.

He said: “A few months ago, I was having a chat with a couple of gay friends. We were talking about the casual, yet abusive use of the word “gay” (as in “that’s so gay”). I’ve said this without believing myself to be homophobic and, I imagine, there’s a good chance that many people reading this will have done so too.

“When I put this to one of my gay mates, he said, “Next time you do it, mentally substitute the word ‘gay’ for ‘black’ or ‘Paki’, then ask yourself how OK it is? This was, I’ll admit, a bit of an eye-opener. Not least because it works so perfectly when you remember how casually these terms were bandied around in the 1970s. How acceptable would it be if the company email had read, “Some of our staff have been told that Proud is a Paki bar” – and then went on to explain that some people found this intolerable because of their religion?”

Proud has refused to name the company involved telling The Independent that he gets a “bit alarmed about the lynchmob mentality of the internet” adding: “Hopefully the way that I’ve done it might not bring down a huge amount of abuse on the company’s head but might instead give them a shock and make them change something.”

Proud has refused to name the company responsible for the email.