Auckland's Roxy nightclub apologises after racially insensitive Instagram caption

April 24, 2021

The Roxy night club in Auckland's CBD has issued an apology after inviting club-goers to "bathe in the jungle fever" in a post shared to Instagram last night.

By Mildred Armah

The caption, which has since been changed, was in promotion of their upcoming afrobeats house night where the nightclub says they will be playing African-inspired beats.

"Jungle fever" has a derogatory or negative connotation associated with interracial dating used to describe a white or non-black person's attraction to someone of African descent.

"We're hosting our first-ever Afro Beats house night. If you're ready to experience and bathe in some jungle fever then you don't want to miss out," the nightclub wrote in a post shared to Instagram.

After the post was shared, users took to the comment section to voice their outrage, demanding an apology and a retraction for the caption.

The Roxy in their apology state: “We want to apologise for the way we have planned out this event and any ignorant comments made.

“We truly desire to include more diversity into our club and embrace the culture respectfully. We also ensure that we will commit more time into researching our future events so that this never happens again.”

1 NEWS has reached out to the Roxy for comment through multiple messages via email, social media and telephone. The night club had not responded to questions by the time of publication.

Melana Davids, a 22-year-old university student, commented on the post: "If they really wanted to do better they would have branched out to more African people to work with and create a truly diverse and culturally aware space ... safe for everyone."

Christabel Sikireta, a 21-year-old university student, tells 1 NEWS: “They need to do better. They aren’t very inclusive.

“They said they are under new management, but the new management is allowing someone to say, ‘jungle fever’ online.”

Sikireta says after she saw the initial post, she directly messaged the nightclub on Instagram to complain.

In the complaint, which she shared with 1 NEWS, she says: “You need to do better. Whoever plans your events needs to do better.”

"If they wanted to diversify they need to put in the work for it … BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people are watching," Sikireta says.

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