Man was 'too good looking' to enter pub

A man in Australia who says he was kicked out of a pub for being too good looking has had his complaint upheld. Bouncer Gene Hocking has been given a formal warning by the NT Licensing Commission for using undue force on Colin Belle when refusing him entry to Shenannigans Irish Bar in Darwin's CBD last year. Mr Belle claimed he was being "unfairly victimised" for talking to too many women.

He said before the hearing that the bouncers were targeting him because he was black. "When I go in a bar I guarantee you I stand there - not moving - and 15 women come up to me," he said. "I'm a friendly person, of course I'm going to talk to them." Mr Hocking told the commission hearing that Mr Belle had a history of sexual misconduct against female patrons, and he had previously denied him entry to two other Mitchell St venues.



In the commission's decision, published on Wednesday, chairman Richard O'Sullivan said Mr Belle had returned to the pub to "debate his eviction" with Mr Hocking. The commission watched surveillance footage of the incident, and said the force used by Mr Hocking was inappropriate. "On two occasions Mr Belle was pushed to the ground," Mr O'Sullivan said in the decision. "The commission does not accept Mr Hocking's submission that Mr Belle's actions at the time constituted a threat to his safety or that physical force was necessary at all to remove Mr Belle from the premises."

Mr Hocking had his hands around Mr Belle's throat at one point. Mr O'Sullivan said the commission took into consideration Mr Hocking's good record and reputation into account, as well as Mr Belle's "argumentative and at times somewhat annoying nature".