fabric bans individual for life after posting video and mocking a dancer on social media

For most attendees, the rave and club scene is a chance to break out of the confines of everyday society, unleashing pent-up energy while expressing oneself through dress and dance moves.  Unfortunately, a recent attendee to fabric in London took exception to an individual’s form of expression and forced the club to respond quickly and decisively.

The controversy began on December 11th, when Twitter user @Doddsyy97, who has since switched his profile to private, post a video of a dancer in just a pair of short shorts, enjoying themselves in the evening with the caption, “Yo I’ll never be going fabric again after seeing this.”  The club wasted little time in responding, quickly stating, “Great, given this tweet, we’d prefer it if you didn’t come.”  The club goes on to discuss how the venue is built on freedom of expression as well as the explicit No Photo Policy to respect the privacy of attendees.

Of course, the incident spurred further comments from producers in the music scene, such as Paul Woolford who stated, “If you are a straight person in a house club, KNOW that you are a guest in someone else’s culture,” as well as a strong comment from The Cursed Madonna addressing not only the incident and the music scene but the larger influx of dangerous rhetoric and behavior in society in general:

There is some dangerous rhetoric floating around in plain sight in dance music right now. I’m telling y’all some of these lads are out here spitting the same language about freaks and perverts as the Proud Boys. It’s not a joke. It’s not a laugh. It’s gonna get someone killed.

While it is upsetting to witness the homophobic and hate-filled rhetoric from some, the response from fabric as well as others throughout the scene is a strong reminder love will conquer hate and it is the responsibility of everyone to continue to ensure that the music scene and its spaces remain safe and free for all.

Great, given this tweet, we’d prefer it if you didn’t come.

Our club was built on the values of free expression and the freedom to dance and not be judged. We also have a No Photo Policy to protect our dancers' privacy. Please do the right thing and remove this video.

— fabric (@fabriclondon) December 12, 2022

Image Credit: Lolita Montana via Flickr | License: Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)