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Roosevelt Lounge Back In The Headlines, And Not In A Good Way

ANOTHER UPDATE: Read about two eyewitness accounts of the incident, as told to Rocks Off's Shea Serrano Wednesday.

UPDATE: Activist Quannell X is organizing a protest in front of Roosevelt at 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon, Fox's Isiah Carey reports.

Two apparently unrelated incidents at Roosevelt Lounge over the weekend have the Washington Avenue nightclub Roosevelt Lounge back in hot water for allegedly discriminating against minorities.

Almost a year ago - a year ago from tomorrow, in fact - the Houston Press ran the cover story "Getting Past the Bouncer," in which local party planner Imani Rose told us about getting turned away from the tony club at 5219 Washington, once with an all-female party, and another time with a group of mixed gender.

After the African-American Rose and her friends were denied entry, she said they watched the doormen let Caucasian after Caucasian into the Roosevelt. "It was awful and blatant discrimination," she said.

Now the Houston rap group Drank is saying this past Saturday night, the Roosevelt wouldn't let their group in either. "The doormen said we had too many black people," one of the rappers, Mozart, told Fox 26's Isiah Carey. "I looked around and saw my friends' reaction, and I knew it was real."

As with Drank, members of the Houston Dynamo were also turned away from the club, except this time two players were arrested after brawling with Houston Police Department officers. According to KHOU, backup goalie Tyler Deric and draftee Warren Creavalle were in a party that, as with Drank, were allegedly turned away from the Roosevelt because some people were black.

Oddly, the Dynamo incident is said to have occurred around around 4 a.m. It's not unheard of for athletes and other celebrities to get into some clubs after hours, but "Getting Past the Bouncer" co-author Shea Serrano says that as far as he knows, the Roosevelt closes at 2 a.m.

No one else involved is saying much of anything, except Deric's attorney, who says his client (a Klein native) is innocent.

Rocks Off has been in touch with Drank, whose new album is due in April, and will have their side of this ongoing story Thursday.


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Chris Gray has been Music Editor for the Houston Press since 2008. He is the proud father of a Beatles-loving toddler named Oliver.
Contact: Chris Gray