Couple Problems With Cirque Le Soir's Defense Of Their Dismissal Of Mark Ingram And Friends As "Too Urban"

An official statement :- pic.twitter.com/n7b3x57CbK

— Cirque Le Soir (@CirqueLeSoir) February 28, 2017

In fairness, it's not the worst "sorry not sorry" I have ever seen. Probably could have done without the passive aggressive labeling of Mark Ingram and the boys as a homeless-looking, drunken posse (honestly shocked they managed to suppress their inner Phil Jackson). I don't know about you, but that's how that third paragraph reads to me and I have a trained eye when it comes to victim blaming. Be that as it may, they do make a fair points about requiring mixed company for a high end club, but that doesn't mean there aren't inherent issues with an "apology" that certainly doesn't read like one...

1) If the real reason a group of black guys wasn't let into their club was because they were all male and there is strict rule against that then it probably shouldn't have taken 16 full hours for a well-known entity to craft a carefully worded response to a goddamn plethora of internet outrage.

2) Cirque Le Soir is - from what I can tell via limited research - basically a circus act meets a PG-13 Gentlemen's Club. It's definitely not like a "$200, you name it", cum-stained hole in the wall, but it does employ scantily clad women in featured performances. I may have quit on that business degree before I ever got started, but something tells me that turning male dominated groups away from a place that has women walking around in their panties would be less than ideal for it...

@__span Join us for complimentary drinks @ Cirque Le Soir with the girls on Friday! pic.twitter.com/ghl7OiLTkb

— LONDON CLUB NIGHTS (@Slips_nights) December 17, 2014

3) Cirque Le Soir has welcomed no shortage of hip-hop groups onto their premises, and - without making too many assumptions about the confidants of Young Thug and Waka Flocka Flame - I have reason to believe that rap entourages aren't seething with buttoned up gentlemen and their elegant plus-one's...

Big night ahead - @youngthug, what's good! □□□□□ #IYDKDW pic.twitter.com/xDYHW4t51K

— Cirque Le Soir (@CirqueLeSoir) February 3, 2017

Yessir □ come back soon @WakaFlocka! □□□□□□ https://t.co/V5fncMxp8z

— Cirque Le Soir (@CirqueLeSoir) February 8, 2017

4) You can't say you would never dismiss anyone as "too urban" when you literally did just that. A small part of me respects Cirque Le Soir for having their employees back even though they made an excessively "judgmental" mistake, but Mark Ingram didn't fabricate the "too urban" label - he just turned it into a hilarious hashtag....
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We pull up to @CirqueLeSoir where we have reservations and this is what they tell us!! @SterlingMoore @TheVonnBell7 @burtleyc @OhGi_3Dawg3 pic.twitter.com/vfKGcqUmxQ

— Mark Ingram II (@MarkIngram22) February 28, 2017

@MarkIngram22 #tooUrban bout to start trending □

— Benjamin Watson (@BenjaminSWatson) February 28, 2017

So yeah, maybe just say "my bad" and move on, because - whether or not it was Cirque Le Soir's intent - they were without a doubt culturally insensitive at the very, verrrrrry least.