Shortly after the New Pittsburgh Courier contacted the Rivers Casino about the Ruff Ryders Meet and Greet party being shut down by security officers, Rivers General Manager Craig Clark called Ruff Ryders President Kenneth Wright and met with him to personally apologize.
“He said it never should have happened, and that it was a miscommunication,” said Wright. “He apologized profusely and refunded all of our money.”
As reported July 25 at newpittsburghcourier.com, casino security personnel shut down a party being held in the Drum Bar by the Ruff Ryders, a Black motorcycle club, ostensibly because it was “over capacity.”
Several of those in attendance said what they meant was an over capacity of Blacks, and have since taken to Facebook and other electronic media to express their displeasure with the Casino.
Prior to Clark meeting with Wright, Rivers spokesman Jack Horner told the Courier the casino has a large number of African-American patrons and does not condone discrimination.“The casino has a zero tolerance policy for racism of any kind. The Drum Bar closed early last Friday due to crowd capacity and related safety concerns,” he said. “All groups of 50 or more are encouraged to reserve banquet rooms. We have apologized to the Pittsburgh Ruff Ryders for any misunderstanding.”
Wright said he was told there was only a problem with two of the guests at the party, but they still chose to shut everything down,
“Normally you would just remove the problem people,” said Wright. “Hell, if they’d come to me, I would have removed them myself, if they’d just come to me.”
Still, Wright said, it should not have taken nearly a week to get a response from the Casino.
“It shouldn’t have taken all this to find out what went on. I’m glad they refunded our money,” he said. “For now, I’ll take them at their word that everything has been resolved going forward.”
As of Courier deadline, the Casino had not responded to inquiries about any discipline or additional training for security personnel.
They also did not identify the DJ who reportedly told the guests there were “too many Black people and not enough Whites, so we’re closing the bar.” The casino said only that he was a third-party vendor, not a Rivers employee.
(More in Wednesday’s print edition.)
Click to read related article:
River’s Casino Drum Bar Party shut down: “Too Many Blacks”
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