Faker front man Nathan Hudson has alleged that he was the victim of a homophobic attack in (where else?) Tasmania on the weekend. The singer, whose band has been lying low for the past couple of years said on Twitter the morning after performing at the Hotel New York in Launceston on Saturday night. He said “My recollection of last night is that I got beat up … It felt homophobic and it felt backward”. “We signed a tour poster for the venue and I made a reference about celebrating equal marriage rights in New York, given the hotel name, which the manager was visibly unimpressed about,” Hudson told a reporter from the Sydney gay community paper Star Observer.
Hudson alleges that he was later dragged out of the bar by a man who said “you’ve been shitting me all night,” before being “king-hit”. “It was plainly aggressive, but felt connected to a candidness about sexuality,” Hudson explained to the Star Observer. “As someone who has grown up being called ‘fag’ before I even knew what it meant, I’m hesitant to draw a parallel between aggression and homophobia, but that’s what I felt this to be”. Hudson suffered a bruised cheekbone in the incident but hadn’t yet decided whether to report the matter to police.
However, the maxim ‘there are always two sides to every story’ saw the venue post an indignant statement on its website, in essence alleging that Hudson was intoxicated and refused to leave the venue when asked. The club, which according to its website offers “2 separate bars, the club for dancing the night away with pumping music and lights or the front bar offering a more chilled environment with plush leather couches, marble top bars and fabulous cocktails for relaxed drinks and chatting with friends,” released the following statement.
Our statement regarding Faker
Monday, 27 June 2011 14:41
This is our official statement on the alleged homophobic attack toward Nathan Hudson, frontman of Faker, in the early morning of the 26th of June, 2011. We thank everyone who has taken the time to write to us and can assure you that we appreciate your concerns and take any allegations of a homophobic driven attack very seriously.
We were very shocked to hear this statement from Mr Hudson as his recollection of events is somewhat different to what happened and what is recorded on our surveillance. After Mr Hudson performed he disappeared from the venue for numerous hours and when he returned at 3:30am he showed signs of being extremely intoxicated. He was refused entry to the nightclub but told he could retire to his room on the premises. Mr Hudson initially agreed but then insisted on going back into the club. He was then escorted back out to the front of the premises where he was monitored by our crowd controllers. Under Tasmanian Liquor and Gaming legislation, it would have been an offence to allow Mr Hudson into a licensed area whilst showing signs of intoxication. After being picked up by car, Mr Hudson left again and when he returned at 5:50am he appeared to be even more intoxicated and insisted on being served even though the venue was closed. After getting into a verbal argument with the venue’s manager they pushed each other and Nathan fell over. Nathan was then helped back up and assisted by other staff members to his room. Earlier that night the venue’s manager had bought Mr Hudson and the rest of Faker dinner at our restaurant close by. At no stage of Mr Hudson’s time at Hotel New York was there mention of his sexuality. As the owner of a number of establishments that employees over 60 people, I hope you can appreciate our staff are from varied walks of life, and of differing sexual orientation. We pride ourselves on creating a culture amongst our staff that would not discriminate or hold prejudices against anyone.
We are disappointed that Mr Hudson feels a homophobic attack took place as it clearly didn’t and we are currently in contact with Mr Hudson’s management to rectify this situation.
Yours sincerely,
James Harding
Managing Director/ Licensee
