Security staff from Hamilton gay venue Venom forcibly removed the co-owner of the temporarily closed Next Door Bar on Saturday after he interrupted the busy night by allegedly ‘pouring' beer over electrical equipment. Next Door Bar's Brian Sharp approached the DJ booth and poured a bottle of beer over the sound mixing equipment before insulting DJ Tristan Laing and walking away, say onlookers there on the night. Laing had previously worked for the Next Door Bar for over ten years before its closure last year. Venom security staff were immediately alerted and asked Sharp to leave. Sharp resumed his verbal tirade as a bouncer physically escorted him off the premises. The Next Door Bar's Mark Richardson was there, and hopes the incident would not lead to ‘bad blood' between the two LGBT venues. “Brian was very drunk at the time. He got into a state and got a bee in his bonnet. It was just a stupid, drunken thing.” Sharp says he definitely had an issue with Laing, but claims he didn't intentionally pour beer over the DJ equipment. “It certainly wasn't done on purpose. I went over to Tristan, to tell him he was a little c**t. I'm a short guy, and while I was reaching up and getting a bit of leverage, I believe I spilt a bit of beer. I certainly didn't ‘pour' beer. I was verbally attacking him. Why would I want to damage somebody's sound equipment?” Laing says the incident took him by surprise. “Suddenly someone was in front of me, waving a drink at me. It took me a few seconds to work out what was going on. “It was Brian, and he has a big grin on his face, tipping a bottle of beer all down the back of the mixer. Then he called me a f**king c**t like about three times as he was doing it. I grabbed the bottle – wrestled it out of his hand.” Laing says he was worried about his and Sharp's safety. “He couldn't see where the liquid was going. It really shook me up. But I managed to get the bottle off him. Then he walked away, and I just stood there, dumbstruck for a while. “It wasn't an accident. There's no way it could ever be construed as an accident. I can only assume that this was about me working at Venom. They must think I'm being disloyal, which is unfair. I'm just a freelance person doing a job.” Venom management would not comment on the incident. Ref: GayNZ.com (m)