London nightclub ‘formally retracts’ its ‘no Zionists’ post

A gay nightclub in London which publicly announced “no f*****g Zionists” on its Instagram account has apologised.

As reported by Jewish News, Adonis, in a Docklands warehouse, faced accusations of antisemitism and “aggressive racism” for including in its social bio description “Zionism has no place in queer spaces”.

In an Instagram post uploaded on Saturday, Adonis founder and promoter Shay Malt say they “would like to apologise for some instances of offensive language used on social media in recent months”.

They add that “this may have been insulting to some members of the Jewish community” and “formally retract a ‘No Zionists’ post that was briefly online”.

The statement goes on to claim that the post was a “flippant, ill considered retort to the ongoing abuse, attacks and death threats we continue to experience on social media” and that “Our Jewish attendees, friends and DJ’s continue to be valued and welcome at all events.”

Jewish News also reported that following the claim that “Zionism has no place in queer spaces”, the licence holders of the premises that host Adonis were threatened with legal action by Campaign Against Antisemitism if they refused to disassociate with the club promoters.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “At long last Adonis has climbed down and apologised for its discriminatory policy against ‘Zionists’. The apology, however, only comes after we contacted a number of venues. Only 6% of British Jews do not consider themselves to be Zionists, according to our polling. Businesses are under a legal obligation to abide by equality legislation. Failure to do so in the case of venues and events will result in us challenging their licence with the relevant local authorities.”