Sydney pub slammed over ‘slap a b***h’ NRL post

AFTER public outcry, a Sydney pub has fired a staff member who posted a social media message that promoted the NRL finals by telling people to “slap a b**ch”.

A SYDNEY pub has been slammed for an online post promoting the NRL finals that appeared to condone violence against women.

Coopers Pub in the inner west suburb of Newtown published the controversial post on its Facebook page on Wednesday. It featured an iconic cartoon picture of Batman slapping Robin with the words; “Keep calm and slap a b**ch as we approach the finals of this years (sic) NRL! Live & Loud every game!”.

The post was quick to attract criticism from angry Facebook users who accused the pub of condoning violence against women. Less than 24 hours later, the venue announced it had fired the staff member responsible for the post.

The post did not stay up for long.

After a number of domestic violence incidents in recent years, the National Rugby League (NRL) competition has worked hard to take a stance against domestic violence with its Voice Against Violence campaign.

Last year, the league said it plans to hand out bans of nine months to life for players convicted of violence against women.

A woman, who preferred to remain anonymous, told news.com.au she was “outraged” when she was alerted to the Coopers Hotel post by her friend about 3pm yesterday.

When she went on to the pub’s Facebook page, it had been changed to “Keep calm and hug like you can’t take a joke”, which she believes was a dig at those complaining about the original post.

“It basically continued the jokes about social justice warriors and feminists — that we are killing comedy because we can’t take a joke. If your jokes rely on repressing people it’s not funny.”

The post was changed a third time to feature a picture of Care Bears and the words: “Keep calm and share the love this NRL finals … lollipops and rainbows for all!”

The woman said she thought it was also a poke at those who had complained.

“It’s definitely a poke at us, it’s sickly sweet compared to the other posts and they put it up immediately after taking the other one down. I think it’s a poke at people who were complaining.”

The woman said the post was particularly disturbing because a new study had revealed a spike in domestic violence cases at the time State of Origin matches were being played.

MORE: NSW domestic violence cases spike at State of Origin time

The pub quickly changed the post after backlash.

She said it was also surprising that it would be posted by a pub in Newtown “which is one of the more liberal areas, so you’d think they’d know what their crowd is like”.

When news.com.au rang the Coopers Hotel, a man who described himself as the manager on duty said the post was a mistake and was taken down immediately.

“There was absolutely no intention of offending anybody,” he said. “The post was made by someone who didn’t realise what they had done and unfortunately was too slow to react with an apology.”

Since then, an apology has been posted to the pub’s Facebook page.

“Hi all, my name is Gary Wright, I am the general manager of the Coopers Hotel and I wholly apologise for the recent post by myself on our social media platform,” the post said.

In the comments section, a number of angry locals said the apology fell short.

“I’ll be telling all my mates about this, we won’t be coming back to your hotel,” wrote one woman whose Facebook profile indicated she lived nearby.

Some commenters accused the pub of deleting critical comments and blocking one user while allowing other derogatory comments that supported the pub. While a majority of comments were critical, a number voiced their support for Coopers, accusing those complaining of being “sooks” or taking a joke too seriously.

“Dude, don’t apologise. You didn’t do anything wrong. It was a simple joke," wrote one male Facebook user.

On Thursday morning, the pub announced it had fired the staff member who made the post.

“As some of you may be aware, yesterday a staff member posted a meme with an inappropriate comment on our Facebook page. That post was subsequently removed,” they wrote on Facebook.

“We have taken action in relation to that staff member. Their employment has been immediately terminated and they no longer work at the hotel. Their behaviour does not reflect who we are.

“On behalf of the staff and management at Cooper Hotel we apologise.”