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Posted On
2007-04-25
by: Stamina
The management of Zen has apologised to Danah Alleyne, her family and the public for the dirty dancing incident at the nightclub that featured Alleyne and R&B/hip-hop performer Akon.
Zen apologised last night "with the hope that with time, the embarrassment and pain caused by the incident will ease, especially for Danah".
The club, owned by Johnny Soong, said in a statement: "We do not shy away from our responsibility in this matter and accept that we made an error in judgment on the night in question.
"We have always been proactive in our security measures to try our best to ensure that minors do not gain entry to Zen. We have always adopted the policy of restricting the sale of tickets for our concerts to anyone under the age of 18. We keep records of ticket purchases but cannot control the purchase or obtaining of tickets by minors via scalpers or other adults."
Zen said preliminary investigations indicated that Alleyne was questioned about her age.
"Ms Alleyne insisted that she was, in fact, 18 years old and did not have her ID with her," the statement said.
"We then informed Ms Alleyne that we would refund her the ticket price but Ms Alleyne again insisted that she was 18 years old. It was based on this and her appearance that our staff made the decision to allow her entry to the club on Level 1, where an 18 years-and-over policy is adopted."
Alleyne is 15 years old.
The management said it wanted to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.
"We stand ready to cooperate with any and all Government bodies to ensure that this will not happen again. We welcome any review of the current legislation and will support and enforce any amendments that are passed."
In an earlier interview yesterday, Tourism Minister Howard Chin Lee had called on Akon and Zen to apologise to Alleyne and the country.
He also called on the management of Zen to beef up security measures.
Chin Lee, who was at the event, said he left before Alleyne and Akon performed.
"He (Akon) owes an apology to Danah and those who were present at the event for disrespecting our young women," he told the Express.
"I understand many people who were there that night were offended by his act towards the end of his performance."
As for Zen, Chin Lee said: "That is a matter for the police to investigate but Zen should have a better procedure in ensuring that people of the legal age be admitted entrance and should not go by appearance only."
taken from the express news paper
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