On Tuesday (10/4), Brooklyn venue Elsewhere hosted a Lex Records showcase, and one of the performers, rapper Pink Siifu, alleged that one of the venue's security guards assaulted him. He posted photos of marks on his neck and back from the alleged incident, and wrote:
security at @elsewherespace tried to get into a cat fight w me last night…….
EYE WILL NEVER PERFORM AT ELSEWHERE AGAIN AND NEED MY REPARATIONS FASHO afta trying to kick out tha homie headlining wife and 2 year old son eye politely spoke to tha SUPERVISOR OF SECURITY to calm down and he told me to throw away my Spliff, eye told em eye got em he den aggressively continued to take it outta my hand and starts tryna grab and choke and reach at my neck and collar. tha result is these scars. being I’ve played at this venue 5-6 times this is beyond disrespectful customer service with @elsewherespace alresdy having a history of fkn tha ppl ova.
The venue has now responded in a statement, saying that their "training is focused on empathy, de-escalation and sensitivity, never aggression, which is when things can get out of hand," and stating that the security guard is no longer employed by Elsewhere. They also issued an apology to Pink Siifu, Eyedress (the performer whose family Siifu referenced in his statement), and "all the Lex Records artists and team members, all their family members and all the fans, and to our community that comes to Elsewhere as a beacon of progress and positivity." Here's the statement in full, followed by posts from Pink Siifu and Eyedress:
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Pink Siifu recently teamed up with production team Real Bad Man for the new project Real Bad Flights, which we named one of the best rap albums of September. His last proper solo album was 2021's GUMBO'!, which got a deluxe edition earlier this year with 10 additional tracks. He also just played Brooklyn's Afropunk Festival.
