Townsville nightclub Mad Cow Tavern employees under fire for concerning social media video

A video showing employees from a Townsville nightclub has gone viral with disturbing comments made about rape and race, with the business releasing a statement saying they are investigating the concerning footage.

Three Mad Cow Tavern employees have been fired after they were filmed making comments regarding rape and race, with the nightclub apologising for those “hurt” and “disturbed” by the video going viral on social media.

The Snapchat video posted on the Facebook page ‘Everything Townsville Uncensored’ depicted three Mad Cow Tavern employees inside the Flinders Street nightclub with a filter over the video, which distorts the sound of their voices.

Venue manager Deacon Powell can be heard saying “how do you stop rape? Good question, I don’t know” at the beginning of the video.

It then turns to security worker Lochlan McGuffie who says “black people” and then to the resident DJ Kaia Browne who replies “oh yeah n---as”.

The video had an enormous response from concerned community members with more than 220 shares and 670 comments with many people calling for those involved to be fired.

Venue manager Deacon Powell (left), security worker Lochlan McGuffie (middle), DJ Kaia Browne (right)

Following the backlash, on Thursday morning a company statement was published to the Mad Cow Tavern’s Facebook page.

“We have recently been made aware of an independent video filmed inside our venue which included some of our Mad Cow Tavern team,” it read.

“The viewpoints expressed by those employees do not represent the Mad Cow Tavern values at all, and we empathize with those hurt, upset and disturbed by the words and actions of some of our employees. We emphatically denounce what these employees have said and done, and we are taking immediate corrective steps to deal with this incident and re-educate our team on our company values.”

In the statement it also said employees posting on personal social media accounts can create challenges for the business’s public image, and they are dedicated to providing a safe and inclusive workplace.

“We continue to actively investigate the situation to understand why this occurred and our next step will be to work with our Human Resources team to determine the best course of action,” the statement said.

“In the meantime, we would like to offer our sincerest apologies to all of those affected or upset by this video and its content.”

A Mad Cow representative confirmed on Thursday afternoon that all three employees involved had been “dismissed”.

Mr Browne who was featured in the video took to Facebook on Wednesday night to post an apology that said, “So as people have seen the video and I would like to personally apologise for my actions these things are not to be joked about at all”.

“I apologise for the words I said and that they should not be said by me and I was a fool for what I said and it will never happen again....”

Mad Cow Tavern on Flinders St, Townsville. Picture: Alix Sweeney

Social media star Ian Zaro weighed in on the video with the comment, “Disappointed but not surprised..Avoid the Cow.”

One person commented on the video, “Deacon Powell YOU THINK RAPE IS FUNNY HUH? You’re meant to be the general manager of Mad Cow and you act like this. Absolutely disgusting.”

Another commented, “So will they lose their jobs over this? I mean they should.”

One concerned member of the public commented on the Facebook post saying, “It’s a bit of a concern when a nightclub jokes about rape considering some of the horror stories you hear. Talk how you talk in your own time however this has been filmed which isn’t very clever.”

Originally published as Townsville nightclub Mad Cow Tavern employees under fire for concerning social media video