Having heard far more bogus claims of “racism” in my life than honestly valid ones, this is another lesson as to why people should be careful when calling someone “racist”. When I first read reports that Gabrielle Union’s publicist was calling for a boycott of a night club because Mrs. Union’s party was canceled because she is Black. I had to think “time to investigate”. Rather than allowing emotion to take over. Emotion does not use reason or sound logic!
So after reading an article about the matter that really does not offer the full story. I had to look around for more details. The really sad thing is that the first article I read was posted days after the story with the full details. Which shows that some news outlets miss the full story even when more details are available. The first article is dated 10/25/2005, while the article with the full details is dated 10/21/2005. I’m no fan at all of Entertainment Tonight, but they did get the full story on this one.
Their story includes what most articles that only give partial information show:
An email written by publicist Holly Shakoor of BWR Public Relations was quickly disseminated around Industry in-boxes Friday. In the missive, Shakoor, who represents the Bring It On actress, urges a boycott of Club Mood because of owner David Judaken’s alleged racist comments targeted at Union
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“I think you should all be aware of an incident that occurred with my client Gabrielle Union and the owner of Mood,” the message begins.
“Mood was going to host her birthday party which is a week away. Once the owner found out she was African American, he not only cancelled her party, but he proceed to say that he ‘didnt’ [sic] realize Gabrielle Union was black. I thought she was the white volleyball player. I don’t want her kind of people in my club.’
“I want to make you all aware of this so you can discourage your celeb clients from going and also doing any events with him.”
Judaken, reached via phone Friday, vigorously denied the account in the email, calling Shakoor’s characterization of their discussion “completely false.”
“All the statements written in her email are untrue,” he said. “To say that this event was canceled over race or creed is hurtful and slanderous.”
The South African-born owner of the flashy club says he is considering legal action against the Beverly Hills-based PR firm, saying his reputation may have already been damaged by the publicist’s claims and the proposed boycott. “This has an immediate negative impact on my business,” he said.
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Well that’s about where most articles end. Giving most of the story time to the accusations, with little given in the way of follow-up.
As you read on in an article with the full details, you find things may not be as “racist” as some articles imply!
BWR, for its part, released a statement late Friday seemingly backing off the call for publicists to discourage celebrity clients from booking events at the hotspot. “The information you have received via email was inadvertently forwarded from an interoffice email,” the statement says.
“The interoffice email was relaying thirdhand information that we received regarding a client. This email was sent within the office and not intended to be forwarded outside of the company. It by no means reflects our official position on this matter. We expect this matter to be amicably resolved between the parties concerned.”
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According to Judaken, the dust-up between Union’s rep and the club stems from his decision to book another event at his club the night Union and BWR had set aside for the actress’ birthday blow-out.
Judaken says he simply got a more lucrative offer from another party looking to do an event at the club on the same date. He claims the Union party was “never finalized in writing or otherwise.”
He also says he recognized Union (and didn’t confuse her with volleyball star/model Gabrielle Reece) and his decision had nothing to do with her race.
Caught in the middle, Union has not commented on the brouhaha over her birthday bash.
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Hmmm… Suddenly this sounds like yet another case of a false pulling of the “race card”. Will Mrs. Union fire her publicist over this? I don’t dwell on the “entertainment industry” much, so I really won’t be following this story long enough to find out 
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But this shows why it is important to be careful when making cries of “racism”. This club owner probably will face damage from lost business. Many people will probably never read the full details. Not that jumping around clubs is a meaningful use of one’s time, but regardless of the business involved this shows a valuable lesson!
