A young musician is urging the GLBT community to stay safe at night following an allegedly homophobic attack that has left him with a suspected broken nose.
Zakk d’Larté, an electronic pop artist who appeared earlier this year at Wellington’s Out in the Square, was attacked by a group of men last night in downtown Auckland.
“I was dropping my friends off at a party down at the Viaduct at 7pm and as I was walking back home, these three guys approached me and I think they must’ve thought I was a female because they were flirting with me,” d’Larté says. “But they quickly realised that I was a guy and got so aggressive and were punching and kicking me and shouting disgusting homophobic comments.”
A photo of his cut and bruised face that he uploaded to his Facebook fan page has 66 shares and nearly 200 comments just six hours later.
He hopes that as many people as possible see the photo and says the reason he uploaded it is “to spread awareness and warn the GLBT community.
“I just hope that this can be a wake-up call to the gay community that homophobia still has such a strong presence. When in town at night, always stay as a group because homophobia is still around and there are people out there that want to hurt you.”
UPDATE: Two friends of d’Larte’s who saw him both before the attack and later that night have contacted express with doubts as to whether the attack was motivated by homophobia.
Marina Rodrigues and Anton Griffiths parted ways with d’Larté around 7 pm on Saturday after he was asked to leave a 21st birthday party that the trio were attending.
“We were at a party on a boat and Zakk got kicked off because he was absolutely intoxicated,” Rodrigues says.
The incident happened soon after.
Griffiths says the pair saw d’Larté again around 1 am at Family Bar. At that time, his face was visibly cut and scratched but Griffiths says d’Larté remembered nothing of the attack.
“I did consult Zakk shortly after he left [the earlier party] and he didn’t even remember talking to me.”
Rodrigues says media portrayal of the incident as homophobic is false and will lead to negative perceptions of the GLBT community.
“We don’t know what Zakk said to the guys or whether he knew them. It’s all been blown way out of proportion. It’s really hard to be bisexual in our community anyway but when a lot of hate is being directed towards the straight community, it makes it even harder.”
However, d’Larté denies this version of events, saying that while he had “had too many” drinks, he remembers all the details of the attack.
“At first [my attackers] thought I was a female and they were saying things like, ‘Hey baby, come back with us’, but they soon realised that I was a homosexual and it was like a switch flipped… they were yelling things like ‘faggot’ and ‘you’re a burden on society’. I’ve got full memory of everything and I definitely think it was homophobic.”
d’Larté spent part of today in hospital and has bruising around his spine and ribs.
He is currently considering whether or not to report the incident to the police.
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I cannot believe things like this are still happening.Its barbaric!!!
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Its freakin disgusting if you ask me..
Is there NO safe place in NZ?
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I feel for you Zakk. Have you had any support from the Police?
I have a contact for you if you like. Rod is a good man.
But somehow we have to STOP this barbaric behaviour on our streets.
Hugs
P
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This is EXACTLY what the WTF campaign is going on about. It still does happen. I am so so sorry this happened to you Zakk.
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I would just like to point out that this was not a gay bashing. Zakk doesn’t remember what happened all this detail has been added for dramatic effect. Straight people get beaten up all the time and as someone who was there before and after it happened I am truely disapointed and really angry. This is spreading hate from the gay community to the straight. I have had more bashings from gay men than anyone else and it sickens me that this is being published as fact.
Why has this been taken to internet websites rather than the New Zealand police and where is the proof. You can not seriously blame a group of people who have no one to stick up for them on this website. Stop segregating the communities. And lets post about real gay bashings not the ficitional. I am truely disgusted about what happened but how can you spread blame.
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Hi Disappointed,
These words were not embellished in any way – they were provided to us by Zakk himself. If you have any further information you would like to put into a statement for a subsequent story, please email anna@gayexpress.co.nz.
Thanks!
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Learn how to fight! Thai kickboxing works for me koz ur not only going to get a hiding from str8 guys but gay too! And its about protecting yourself. My motto is this, “If talking the situation down dont work, take them down before they take “you” down!
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they don’t sound like Zakk’s friends to me. Regardless, he was beaten up and they should stop trying to turn this into something that its not and let him recover
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One does question the validity of the story when it isnt reported to Police. Surely any sensible person would have gone str8 to the Police who would soon seperate the truth from lies and embellishment.
Im sorry Zakk was beaten for whatever the reason but if it wasnt homophobic and verified, why has gayexpress reported it? If homophobic then it is right to report and publicise but surely it needs substantiating Editor.
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“He is currently considering whether or not to report the incident to the police.”
Gorl, plz. Quit yapping to the media for self-promotion and get this situation dealt with and talk to the authorities ASAP.
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I agree… why not go to the police first? if his injuries were so severe why not go to A&E first, the police second then if nothing go to the media.
the fact that the first sentence of the first 2 paragraphs make reference to the fact he is a Musician/DJ is more the whole incident has been used for self promotion
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I showed this to me mum whos an Ambulance officer and she had quite the chuckle about things. Her words were “Thats not aassult! 4 guys with a baseball bat on Queen Street is an assult” For someone who was so worried about how he looks or if he had concerned for his ribs or whatever he quite easily could of marched himself to A & E or dialed 111 not go up to Family looking for cuddles and kiss to feel better.
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Zakk was at least there, so his statement has SOME weight. It is hardly responsible to quote someone WHO WAS NOT THERE as an authority against him. And he WAS beaten up.
Zakk’s “friends” (who weren’t there) have a theory that he was being so obnoxious that he DESERVED to be beaten up, and the nice gay-friendly thugs were policing bad behaviour in the gay community. Now THAT would be a story.
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I feel this maybe a typical attention seeking person who is blowing things out of proportion, if it was as serious as it has been described as why is he only “considing making a complaint to police” hmmmm
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First off, whether it was a homophobic bashing or not its inexcusable. Has anyone seen how small zak is? Wether he talked shit or did whatever his pretty little face looks fucked but what sickens me the most is that now his friends are talking shit about him, like sorry but this is not about you marina not you for f ing once, u wanna talk about bad looks on the gay community? How about your obeasity? How about not looking out for your friends? Its all fun and games when its someone else huh? Just wait til your fat fucking face is demolished
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Its quite obvious that walking round town by yourself at night in town is now a dangerous / stupid thing to do, if you cant protect yourself. It has gotten to the point where Auckland like other major citys is no longer safe at night.
This attack yes it sucks, but people please stay safe esp with all the drunk young men that have taken over town / kroad looking for people to fight.
I hope Zak gets better and for fuck sake, people in our community stop bitching and act support one another.
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Perhaps Zak didn’t go to the police, because they are as bad as the people who bashed him up.
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obviously his friends would have put anonymous down if they didn’t think their information would be helpful. Zakk’s story has changed as it’s spread through the media. Look at the facts. The only evidence he has is his word. He as been through a horrible ordeal, which is being made worse with each new interview. It’s been turned into a publicity stunt, and everyones heard the saying “any publicity is good publicity”.
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