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Hideout will be closed for the rest of the year after a former employee accused the music venue of fostering a toxic work environment, leading to a wave of canceled bookings.
The self-proclaimed “regular guy” bar and staple of the city’s music scene will close on November 7 and reopen next year “under new leadership,” the owner said in a statement Monday. Stated.
“We’ve weathered many storms. But the latest situation, in its current form, seems insurmountable,” said owners Tim and Katie Tuten, as well as Mike and Jim Hinchsliffe.
After former program manager Mykele Deville, a “rapper/poet/actor/educational artist,” published a social media post earlier this month detailing his tenure at the 1354 West Wavanthia Avenue venue, the owners have come under pressure. exposed to The post was first reported. According to Newcity last week.
DeVille said in a post that Hideout hired him in the summer of 2021.
Hideout’s former program manager, Mykele Deville, wrote in a blog post that his boss was slow to respond when he was verbally abused by a white artist and spat at by a customer who refused to wear a mask.
Sun-Times File, Zakkiyyah Najeebah Photo
Deville, who is black, claimed his bosses were slow to respond after the building was vandalized with white supremacist symbols. His boss did not defend him, he writes. increase.
Deville said he was overworked in a position where other venues would have provided assistants. said.
DeVille’s boss fired him this spring for “derogatory remarks” and poor performance, he wrote. He claims his boss offered him his severance pay on the condition that he sign a non-disclosure agreement, which he refused to sign.
“I noticed [the] Hideout never intended to lead me to success, they just wanted to trade my racial identity…after realizing that hiring me meant really evolving as a company. , I now understand that they disposed of me and immediately returned to my former company. It’s their old comfort system,” wrote Deville, who did not respond to a request for comment.
The Hideout owner originally responded to Deville’s post in a statement on October 20, saying:
But as Mr Deville’s complaints spread, “many” reservations were canceled, the owner wrote in a statement Monday.
“We understand that it takes time to build trust, foster open communication, develop a plan for meaningful change, and execute it,” the owner wrote.
“We recognize the deep pain Michele and others are feeling. We are committed to taking action by working with HR organizations focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.The first step is to ensure that our policies and It’s an impartiality audit of practices,” the owner wrote.
The owners said they hoped to “restart in 2023 with new leadership and a commitment to a healthy, collaborative and respectful organizational culture.”
Built in a former industrial corridor on the North Fork of the Chicago River, the retreat dates back to a century ago when it was a secret neighborhood spot with no signage. The building sits on the edge of a future Lincoln Yards development that the bar’s owners objected to, fearing competition from future large music venues. The current co-owner has been running Hideout for his 26 years.
