This week a new Sydney venue announced it’s upcoming launch but within hours they team behind the new venue were back tracking and issuing apologies.
Sydney’s Oxford Street night life has been struggling in think the arrival of a new venue would be something to celebrate but the team behind this new venture were so out of touch with LGBTIQA+ life in 2025.
The new venue was to be named Pink Pony, drawing inspiration from Chappell Roan’s iconic song Pink Pony Club. The venue would take up residence on Oxford Street at the location that was formerly multi-level venue Flash.
In a social media post the club was described as being a place where you’d hear dance pop and harder house and techno sounds, and would operate on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays with doors opening before the start of summer.
They also said the space would be a space for a very specific slice of the LGBTIQA+ community, it would be “unashamedly be targeted at the boys, pretty much 18 to 35.”
Ben Grubb at Gay News Sydney broke the news about the new venue, but soon after there was a backlash with accusations of ageism, and concern that a LGBTIQA+ venue would be looking to ostracise not only those born before 1990, but also lesbians and bisexual people.
Many punters also voiced alarm that the club was taking the inspiration for its name from a lesbian artists, while openly saying it would be a place for young gay men. Chappell Roan wrote her hit song after visiting The Abbey a legendary LGBTIQA+ venue in Los Angeles that welcomes all genders and sexual orientations.
The venue has been set up by Kevin Du-Val, an 80-year-old publican and his right-hand man Michael Lewis. They also operate another LGBTIQA+ venue Palms on Oxford.
The team quickly announced the retraction of the Pink Pony name, and said they’ve head back to the drawing board, but they’ve labeled the community’s reaction as ““disappointing.”
Speaking to QNews, the venue operators said their statement was about a target demographic rather than exclusion.
“The backlash from some parts of the community is disappointing, however from our perspective a business having a target demographic is not particularly remarkable or newsworthy, but clearly we have unintentionally hit a raw nerve,” Michael Lewis said.
“We certainly understand the frustration many within the community have towards the lack of venues available for them, hence why we are opening Pink Pony.
“Having said that, the hate and vitriol being directed towards a small business trying to make a difference for their chosen market is a bit over the top.”
“Us outlining our target demographic was never meant to be a message of exclusion rather it was a message to our followers that we were making something for them.
“Obviously with the benefit of hindsight we could have chosen our words better.” Lewis told the publication.
As criticism of the approach continued to grow the team put out an apology.
“In our excitement to announce the launch of our new venture, our first thought was to let those in the community we envisioned would be the core clientele know we were building something for them, in hindsight our communication was clumsy and very poorly worded.
“Clearly the choice of ‘Pink Pony’ as a name was also an error of judgement given Chappell Roan’s well deserved reverence with queer Women. Growing up as young gay men dancing to Dancing Queen, we selfishly considered the song another gay anthem completely overlooking the wider implications of using it.
“We can see the issue with using the song name as inspiration for what was expected to be a predominately gay venue. We have taken the time to see from the perspective of others in our community, and see that we appeared arrogant and selfish, for that, we are sorry.” Du-Val and Lewis said.
“We would like to reiterate that all members of our community are welcome at all of our venues, there never was an intention to have a door policy of exclusion targeted at any particular group. In hindsight we can see how our nomination of a preferred mix was tone deaf and hurtful and once again we sincerely apologise.
“At the end of the day the vibe of venue and the music and those it resonates with will dictate the crowd. Everyone is just looking to find their tribe and a place to belong.
“As announced already we will move forward with not only a new name but also a renewed and broadened perspective and sensitivity towards the views and needs of our wider community.” they added.
While the group look for a new name for the venue and revise their marketing plan, news of the kerfuffle has made headlines around the world in both LGBTIQA+ media and mainstream publications.
