Usually, pub quizzes would be all about light-hearted banter, humorous content and other good vibes that would not get one’s hair into a frenzy.
But it seems that in a brief, insane moment on Sunday (2 May), private members’ club 1880 confused contextual trivia with the most sensitive issue in the book.
And they’re now paying dearly for it.
Private Members’ Club Apologises for Including Question About George Floyd Murder in Pub Quiz
According to CNA, the club posted an Instagram update on yesterday (3 May), apologising for its inclusion of an “insensitive and inappropriate” question.
View this post on Instagram
Apparently, the question had to do with the trial of Derek Chauvin and how long he actually knelt on Floyd’s neck for.
Unsurprisingly, the query raised a rather significant ruckus, so much so that the club had to make a swift apology to contain the damage done.
“Last night, 1880 made a mistake. We are incredibly sorry for this,” read the post, signed off by the club’s chief executive officer Jean Low.
“The question was insensitive and inappropriate. The very mention of this subject matter was completely out of line and showed a serious lack of judgement.”
“1880 is about creating connections and inspiring conversations that help us understand one another better, united by a shared willingness to end dogma. On this day we failed.
“We will work hard to learn from this and commit to taking all necessary steps to re-establish your trust in us.”
1880’s founder Marc Nicholson has also taken full responsibility for the slip-up.
“We are devastated to have caused so much pain and discomfort, and we hope for the opportunity to grow and do better,” he said. “Most of all now we want to create room for healing.”
Outrage
Even so, several social media users still found it hard to contain their outrage.
A member of the club, for instance, expressed utter disappointment at the news, and said that he was even more saddened by the fact that the question would have been processed in the first place.
“Someone had to think about it, write it down, and put it forward as one to be asked,” he said. “Someone would have to look at it and provide approval, and ultimately there was someone who asked it.
“Anybody who feels a loss of life is something to be trivialised is very disappointing.”
Many others concurred.
“This is a very disgusting question to even ask,” a netizen wrote.
“How can you be so inconsiderate to even ask this question? Insensitive in every shape way and form.”
It should be noted, however, that not everyone was critical. Some were willing to let things go, and one stated that it was a clear-cut mistake on 1880’s part.
“I’m so saddened by so many of these comments,” a member of the club wrote.
“Let’s be clear @1880singapore should never have let this question be voiced BUT it was only out of naivety not racist malice, as many of these comments would lead one to believe.”
They continued: “You are talking about a club that in my option has more ethnic diversity than any other members club on the planet and that diversity runs though the brand like a stick of rock. Yes, they made a mistake which they have since rightly so apologized for and I can assure you (knowing the team as well as I do) they will learn from it.”
George Floyd
Back in 2020, disturbing footage of a white police officer kneeling on an unarmed black man’s neck had begun circulating on the web.
The white police officer in question was identified as Derek Chauvin, while the other party was as George Floyd.
In the video clip, Floyd can be heard telling Chauvin, “Please, please, please, I can’t breathe. Please, man.”
“I’m about to die,” he says later in the footage.
He eventually died after Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than 8 minutes.
A day after the incident, the first protest happened; hundreds of people marched to the MPD 3rd Precinct police station, where the officer was from, to demonstrate their frustration with the Minneapolis police.
Some violence reportedly occurred between protestors and the police.
The next day, on 27 May 2020, more people protested outside more police stations.
Violence began escalating, as the Black Lives Matter movement came to be.
The turmoil would last for months on end, and spawned numerous social media trends.
Unfortunately, it also meant that individuals, whom may have wittingly or unwittingly committed racism in the past, were called out for their mistakes.
Popular YouTuber Jianhao Tan, for instance, had to retire fan favourite character Peter Papadum in light of the controversy.
And in another case, a former Raffles Institution student was called out for a blackface image posted years before George Floyd’s death.
Feature Image: Facebook (1880)