It was a packed night at Family (File Photo) Management at Auckland’s Family Bar say the gay couple who have pulled out of a radio wedding competition turned violent when they were removed due to their behaviour, and were not victims of any kind of hatred. Opotiki couple Te Mete Solomon Smith and Joseph Hayes have stated they are quitting ZM’s Fabulous Gay Wedding competition due to an "issue" over the weekend, when they were out with friends trying to rally for votes at a gay bar in Auckland. They claim there were confronted by someone who said they didn’t deserve to be in the competition, when things escalated into pushing and shoving and the situation became violent. However management for the bar where the incident occurred, K’ Rd’s Family Bar, says the couple was in fact removed by bouncers due to complaints from patrons that they were drunk and rudely pushing people around, on a packed ‘wall to wall’ night in the venue. Management says as the men were being removed, one turned violent towards a bouncer, who in return shoved him across the smoker’s area, and was then attacked by the second man. It says the couple was taken outside and told not to come back, but continued trying to hit the security staff, who stood their ground. “He scratched someone else and punched someone else through this,” a spokesperson for Family who witnessed what happened says. “And the boyfriend was trying to hit [bouncer] Hans and going ballistic.” The member of Family’s management staff who instructed bouncers to deal with the couple, says they were “a big ego from the moment they walked into the bar … they expected everybody just to move and know who they were … there was no hatred, they made fools out of themselves, it was absolutely disgusting behaviour. They were arrested and taken away in a police car, handcuffed.” The spokesperson adds, “it was not a case of hate on K’ Rd, it was nothing like that,” and backs how security staff dealt with them, saying a bouncer held one of the men down as he screamed and punched, until police arrived. “It took three security guards to hold the two of them. The police were there within ten minutes and dealt with what was really bad behaviour.” The spokesperson for Family’s management staff is adamant it didn’t start with any type of hatred whatsoever, saying patrons are excited about the ZM competition, which has been pumped over the microphone by Miss Ribena, who will be part of the wedding. “The crowd has been really warm and responded well and think it’s great that we’re getting publicity for gay marriage. It’s not a case of hatred. There was nothing like that."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 8th July 2013 - 12:17pm