Houston’s notorious Cle nightclub, which went viral several times during the pandemic for disregarding COVID-19’s basic safety guidelines, is at the center of another controversy.
Over the weekend, the club hosted rappers Bow Wow and Meek Mill for a performance that drew the ire of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. On January 17, Turner tweeted that his team was informed of the event before its scheduled date and asked Cle to reschedule. The club, of course, no, and the video from inside Cle showing a huge crowd of (mostly) partygoers without a mask – and definitely not socially distant – went viral on social media the day after.
See the video, which has accumulated thousands of views, below:
“Neither Houston nor any city in Texas should be allowed to be a venue for concert promoters outside this state, because clubs / bars can be reclassified as restaurants,” tweeted Turner. “Only legitimate restaurants should be open at this point.”
These events that are scheduled with @BowWowPromoTeam today in Houston they are on our radar. Other bars / clubs that are operating as restaurants, in addition to the capacity and social distance requirements, await visits. Today we report 1964 new cases and 17 more deaths. st
– Sylvester Turner (@SylvesterTurner) January 17, 2021
After the video went viral, the incident was reported by gossip agencies like TMZ and widely discussed on Twitter. This led Bow Wow, born Shad Gregory Moss, to defend his actions. In a series of now-deleted tweets, Moss said he was just hosting, not an event organizer, and wore masks at some points while he was at the club. He also stated that he tested negative for COVID-19 “twice” before presenting the show.
“It’s safe to say that the Mayor of Houston hates me,” Moss tweeted in reference to Turner. “I can’t believe I was guilty for an entire weekend. This is ridiculous.”
In response, Turner made it clear that it was not a personal vendetta against rapper “Shorty Like Mine” and noted that the day before Bow Wow’s performance in Houston, the city reported 2,000 new COVID-19 infections. “This is not the time for concerts. Help us to overcome this virus and do what you want, ”wrote Turner on Twitter.
My clip was the only one to go viral and we know why. Anything with my name attached says HEADLINES. That’s why they chose me. I understand that’s what I signed up for. I can take all the heat and not sweat. Sorry for any confusion.
– Bow Wow (@smoss) January 19, 2021
In a series of tweets on Tuesday morning, Moss apologized for his behavior and clarified that he was at Cle to celebrate a birthday, not a paid artist. “I apologize if I did something wrong. I love the city of Houston, ”he tweeted. “I consider it a second home. A place I go to in my spare time. Moss also apologized to Turner, saying he “understands[s] the time we live in. ”
It’s not shocking that something like this happened in Cle, who was authorized by the Texas Alcoholic Beverages Commission to openly disregard the COVID-19 guidelines, thanks to an absurd gap that classifies the place as a “reception hall” instead of the nightclub obviously it is. The bar’s owners have repeatedly insisted that they are not breaking the rules – specifically, that they are keeping capacity limited to the 50% allowed by Governor Greg Abbott’s most recent executive order.
Also this weekend, Cle’s sister club, Spire, was closed by the Houston authorities after complaints from large crowds were made to the local police. According to KHOU, about 200 people were waiting to enter the club, and it was “packed” inside. Spire was also a repeat offender during the pandemic, with Turner adding the bar to the city’s “Wall of Shame” after he won a temporary suspension of the TABC’s liquor license.
Turner described the two clubs as “community disseminators” who are “working against what we are trying to achieve”. “And let me tell you, they are not restaurants,” he said, “so I am asking TABC to really crack down and rescind some of those reclassifications.”