Man says he was the target of homophobic attack inside Le Jazz, in SP

A customer of the restaurant Le Jazz filed a police report on Friday (11) after being assaulted inside the restaurant by another man. He says he was threatened with physical violence, homophobic name-calling and accuses the restaurant of not having provided the necessary help to him at the time the aggression occurred.

The victim asked not to have his identity revealed. The case took place at the Pinheiros unit, in the west of São Paulo.

Heard by the newspaper, the man says that the attack lasted about an hour and that he even changed tables at the request of restaurant employees. With no effect, the aggressor continued to use words like “veadão” and “bichona” against him, as reported in the police report, which was registered on Friday night, minutes after the attack, at the 14th DP of Pinheiros.

Le Jazz denies that it was negligent with the victim and stated, through its advice, that it had to transfer the client who was attacked in order to charge the account of the aggressor, who had consumed, along with a friend, five bottles of wine, before ask them to leave.

It is possible to see from the videos recorded on Le Jazz’s surveillance system that there were at least three interferences by the establishment’s staff in an attempt to separate the aggressor. Even intoxicated, he drove away, according to witnesses.

The victim also claims that he charged Le Jazz with the police’s presence, but that the house’s employees refused to open a report at the time the assault was in progress. The restaurant says that the presence of the police was not charged and that it collaborates with the investigation opened in the 14th DP, having even delivered the security videos.

He also claims that the police stopped by the restaurant on Friday night, after the assaulted customer reported the incident. The victim claims that the offending client was being treated as someone known to the house and that he was protected.

The fight started because the chairs of the attacked customer and the woman who was accompanying the aggressor collided several times – Le Jazz is known for having the tables very close to each other.

The battered client says that he had to move away from his neighbors a few times, but that the aggressor was drunk and began to confront him with physical threats and homophobic name-calling.

In the video, it is possible to see that the Le Jazz team interfered when they realized that there was an attempt at aggression and that waiters asked the attacked customer and a friend to occupy a table further away, in the outdoor area of ​​the restaurant. Then, another video, in the external area, shows that the attacker returned to attack the client. At that moment, two security guards acted to remove the aggressor from the establishment.

The battered customer says the aggressor managed to return to the restaurant other times. In a last video, it is possible to see that the aggressor, even restrained by a man, throws a bag at the customers. A witness says that there was a bottle inside that bag and that she was hit in the leg by shards of glass. Le Jazz claims that the man trying to contain the attacker in the video was one of his bodyguards.

The case had repercussions on the internet after, on Saturday (12), actor Otavio Martins published a text on his Twitter account saying: “I will never set foot in Le Jazz restaurant, in São Paulo. Not only because of the bad food: yesterday a friend was the victim of homophobia by a customer ‘of the house’, cowardly attacked, with witnesses, but the manager and waiters refused to help or call the police”.

Le Jazz denies that it was an old customer. His officials claim they had never seen him there. They also say that the bank payment receipts that come out of the collection machines do not show the identity of any customer, which prevented them from informing the name of the aggressor, but that the images of the security cameras show the license plate of his car.

In a statement, the restaurant says it “repudiates any type of violence or discrimination and does not condone the acts of homophobia reported on Friday night.”

The management of the house also states that it changed its security team, “considering that the agents failed to prevent the aggressor from returning to the restaurant after being asked to leave”.

“We apologize to all the customers involved, to those who witnessed the scene and also to the regulars of the house”, continues the note. “Respect for diversity and combating any form of discrimination are principles that guide our work.”

Before the fight started, the restaurant staff had already stopped serving drinks to the aggressor, “when they found that he was excessively intoxicated”, says the note.

“We asked the aggressor to leave the establishment and, once outside, he continued with the aggressions, being restrained by our security”. The establishment’s staff also denies that he acted to prevent the police from being called.

“We recognize that despite all the efforts of our team to prevent the aggressions from evolving into physical confrontation, we were not able to contain the aggressor, who was very upset and exalted”, says the note. “The homophobic acts came from him and not from our team: all the work we did was to prevent the confrontation from escalating, which could put even more customers at risk.”

They close the text saying that the establishment is “on the side of the victim” and that it will collaborate “so that the aggressor pays for the harm caused”.