Next up, I headed to the Red Bull tents for the Louie Vega/Elements of Soul show. The vibe was incredible. You know when Martin Solveig, Bob Sinclar, and Barbara Tucker are hanging out and dancing - that you are in the right place. The groove was amazing and it was so incredible to see LIVE musicians playing danceable house music - that takes a lot of talent and passion.
Note - the next paragraph contains graphic language that might not be suitable for the general audience. If you are offended by strong language - please skip the next paragraph.
After grooving to the fabulous music, I was going to venture over to the Funktion tent to check out Akademics fashion show. In the separation, a security guard challenged me why I was wearing the bracelet loosely. He said it had to be tight. He tightened it way too much and then followed me as I walked in. I tried to loosen the wristband a little bit and the security guard immediately jumped on me. He said - "You f*k**g faggots are as bad as the n*g*rs." He then grabbed me by the arm and said we were going to check that I was on the guest list. He pulled me to the front doors and had the Funktion people check the lists. I said that I was press and was invited by a sponsor. My name was not on the list (because I was invited by a sponsor) and so he whipped out a knife and cut off the wrist band.
I was shaken up by this as I have never been so rudely treated at an event before. I was surprised that a fashion event would hire a security staff that was so overagressive, rude and homophobic/racist. With labels like Akademics and Heatherette which market to the African American and fashion forward communities, this behavior is even more unacceptable. Then again on a basic level of human decency, this treatment was horrific. I walked back to my hotel to calm down, shower and chill. I was not going to let some ignorant, racist and homophobic security guard ruined my day.