[imagesource: Hank’s Olde Irish/Facebook]

The owners of Hank’s Olde Irish Pub in Bree Street have been awarded R1.25 million in damages by the Western Cape High Court after a December 2022 incident that led to false accusations of racism on social media.

The court ordered Christopher Michael Logan to pay the damages after he accused John Papadakis of racism and shared a video on social media, claiming that his friend, Thabiso Danca, was denied entry to the pub because of his race.

The social media outrage, according to the court, “led to significant reputational harm, financial losses and emotional distress for the pub and its co-owners, the Papadakis brothers”.  The damages were awarded to Latari House (the operating company for Hank’s Olde Irish Pub) and brothers Viron and John Papadakis who, at that stage, were co-owners of the pub.

The court said despite an investigation confirming no alleged racist incident occurred there, the damage had been done.

Hank’s Olde Irish / Love Thy Neighbour turning people of colour away if they aren’t “accompanied by a white person”??? Surprise, surprise another racist watering hole… @CapeTimesSA @mailandguardian pic.twitter.com/nvRhzlcgep

— nathannnnn (@Natenoged) December 3, 2022

Logan made the remarks to the media, accusing the establishment of having an “institutional racist policy”, which sparked media frenzy and online outrage. This even resulted in the EFF demonstrating outside the tavern, forcing it to close for a period.

Logan went on to appear in several news reports, describing the alleged racism and assaults by workers at Old Hank’s.

Papadakis petitioned the High Court to clear his name and claim for loss of income as a result of negative publicity.

“The plaintiffs experienced reputational harm, financial losses, emotional distress, and temporary business closures. They testified about the significant personal and professional impacts, including lost partnerships and emotional toll from public scrutiny.”

“It is clear that, as a result of the publication of the statements, the plaintiffs were severely embarrassed and publicly degraded… they have been, and will be, prejudiced in their professional and private endeavours, and it is unlikely that they will ever fully recover their respective reputations.”

Logan was ordered to pay R500,000 to the Papadakis’ business as special damages for loss of revenue, R250,000 in general damages to the business, and R250,000 to each of the brothers as general damages.

All monies will be paid with interest.

[source:news24]