Protesters are preparing to gather outside a Perth nightclub after the owner asked a ‘plain Jane’ patron if she was worth having her drink spiked.
Neil Scott, 66, owner of Perth’s Rapture nightclub has been under fire since his controversial comments after 19-year-old Shantel Smith claimed she had her drink spiked on Saturday night.
Since the owner’s divisive remarks, a Facebook event has been organised with nearly 100 people saying they will attend in hopes to put an end to the ‘disgusting’ club.
The protest is due to be held on Friday night and 88 people have already said they will attend.
Mr Scott told Daily Mail Australia that he believed the protest was a ‘good idea’ and would reveal the ‘anonymous haters’ he had been abused by online.
Shantel Smith, 19, said she visited Rapture, in Perth’s Northbridge entertainment district, on Saturday night and believes someone slipped something into her drink
Neil Temple Scott, 66, ridiculed a young patron who complained to Rapture Nightclub in Perth that her drink was spiked on Saturday night
‘Obviously we’ve all seen how (Mr Scott) completely ignored and even ridiculed a patron who claimed her drink was spiked at his venue,’ the Facebook event wrote.
‘It is important that we as a community try and work together to stop the Rapture Nightclub which holds disgusting values from running.’
‘If we all work together and hold protest we can change the way the nightclub is running.’
Mr Scott, 66, has been managing nightclubs for 38 years and said in the wake of the controversy he had received an uproar of abuse online, admitting he had been called ‘every swear word you can imagine’.
‘It will be good to see the faces of the up to now, anonymous haters hiding behind tag names.’
‘Then there are a lot of messages of support and some telling me that Shantel was a brat in school.
‘I think it’s all a big waste of time and people are dumbing down our Aussie culture with all this political correctness.’
Mr Scott said that Ms Smith had created ‘fairytale’ as part of her ‘desire to be important’, but he refused to believe it.
‘I’ve dealt with spoilt kids before. This one felt so entitled she posted my response which was designed to wake her up to the real world.
‘Her multiple scenarios in the story would have the same odds of being true as the winner of the $100million Powerball.’
The uproar began after Ms Smith sent the nightclub a message via Facebook saying she believed she had been spiked.
The 19-year-old said she had only had two or three drinks before entering the club and then one at the premise.
Ms Smith then said she spent the next two and a half hours vomiting and experiencing other ‘symptoms of a date rape drug.’
She said she didn’t see any bouncers near the bar and suggested the club beef up its security to protect its reputation.
But Mr Scott was unconvinced, sending back a scathing response and questioning why anyone would try to spike her drink.
Instead of addressing Ms Smith’s concerns or apologising for what had allegedly happened, he dismissed her claim as a ‘beat up’ and demanded proof
‘Why would anyone want to spike your drink? Did you attend a hospital and have your stomach pumped for evidence?’ the response read, as shared by Ms Smith online.
‘Are you worth someone trying to spike your drink?
‘We think this is a beat up and we believe that no one would be stupid enough to waste their drugs on spiking anyone’s drink.’
Speaking with 9 News after the incident, the club’s owner shamed the young woman, labelling her as ‘not particularly attractive’.
‘Lets face it, why would somebody spike her drink? Why would they do that? What are they hoping to get? What is she hoping to get from it?’ Mr Scott said.
Rapture is in Perth’s Northbridge entertainment district and its Facebook page was soon bombarded with hundreds of negative reviews
‘I don’t know if she thinks she’s special enough to be spiked, I don’t know if that’s how it works.’
Mr Scott then told the West Australian the ‘plain Jane’ teenager had more than likely made up the story for attention, adding she never reported the spiking incident to any of the Rapture staff.
‘She’s not a particularly attractive girl. It’s just implausible to imagine that she had her drink spiked, it just doesn’t sort of add up.’
‘She’s just a very plain Jane type of girl. I can’t understand why anybody would be possessed by her.’
Ms Smith described the nightclub’s response as ‘disgusting’.
‘The response I received was absolutely disgusting after the message I sent them was extremely polite and just requesting they increase their security,’ she said.
Mr Scott early on Monday morning he posted CCTV of Ms Smith entering the leaving the club to support his claim that her drink was never spiked
Early on Monday morning he posted CCTV of Ms Smith at the club, claiming it as proof her drink couldn’t have been spiked.
‘The large girl with the white top, the short black skirt and the black and white shoes is Shantel Smith, the girl who claimed to have had her drink spiked,’ he wrote.
‘She can be seen entering Rapture Nightclub at 10.58pm and leaving at 2.53am. Note none of her friends seems perturbed at all.
‘She seems in good spirits and did not leave the club once in the 2 hours 55 minutes of attendance. Nor did she seek help or assistance from any of the 14 staff on duty.’
Mr Scott was vilified for posting the CCTV footage online with hundreds of angry punters threatening to boycott the venue.
‘Regardless if this young girl was in fact spiked at your club is besides the point. You victimised and humiliated her,’ one woman wrote.
What Ms Smith sent Rapture’s Facebook page after her night out that prompted Mr Scott’s response
When she reported the alleged incident to the venue, Rapture Nightclub in Perth, it sent her this response instead of apologising
‘Her first message to you wasn’t even her trying to get anything out of it,’ a second woman added.
Finally, after four days of intense public pillorying and calls to boycott his club, Mr Scott issued a grovelling apology on Wednesday.
The club owner explained that Rapture’s ‘legendary’ customer care meant he ‘could not believe the story’ and saw her claim as ‘a takedown of the nightclub’.
‘I got upset and sent a terse reply, calling her out in a sarcastic and demeaning way, which I regret. It was beneath my dignity,’ he said.
‘I am sorry. I should have swallowed my disbelief and not let emotion rule my head.’
Another conversation soon emerged showing the club making an innapropriate comment to a woman who asked about the dress code.
‘Hey are black sweatpants acceptable to wear?’ she asked.
‘If you get stopped at the door, just take them off. I’m sure that will be ok. Make sure you wear a gstring,’ the club’s Facebook page replied.