A downtown music venue has issued a public apology on Facebook; days after a former employee went public with harassment allegations on social media.
In a post Tuesday morning, The Needle Vinyl Tavern released a third written statement in response to online allegations.
The statement acknowledges an incident which involved a supervisor/owner and a former staff member, and says: “We wish to publicly apologize for the incident.”
The post goes on to say the individual involved had been removed from “any active role at the Club”, but it’s unclear if the individual is still involved.
The statements came in the wake of a weekend Facebook post from a former employee. In a long statement posted November 19, Brittany Lyne Rudyck accused one of the venue owners of groping her while drunk, the allegations detailed in the post dated back to March.
Meanwhile, the establishment is at the centre of a social media firestorm, their Facebook page flooded with negative reviews speaking out against the business and in support of the former employee, and a number of musical acts and events scheduled to take place at the venue are being cancelled or moved.
On Monday, comedy duo Torrens and Taggart changed their venue over the allegations, and other bands such as the Red Cannons and Current Swell have also reacted, Current Swell saying “they cannot perform [at the venue] in good faith”. The band said in a social media post that they were working on changing the venue for their shows scheduled for November 25 and 26.
As for The Needle, they have officially closed indefinitely. Their most recent statement said the incident was being reviewed, and they had “engaged the services” of the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton and the YWCA to review human resources policies.
With files from Dan Grummett
