SCOTLAND: State Tourism Agency Delists Five-Star Hotel After Trump Pal Owner Uses Anti-Gay Slur

The BBC reports:

Tourism agency VisitScotland has suspended the five-star status of an Aberdeen hotel following the owner’s homophobic comments. Stewart Spence used a derogatory term about homosexuals at The Marcliffe Hotel during a Hospitality Industry Trust (HIT) Scotland event last week. Mr Spence later said he wanted to “sincerely apologise”.

VisitScotland said the Marcliffe had been removed it from its website while it investigated the incident. The agency told the BBC that all members of its Quality Assurance Scheme scheme must comply with the Equality Act 2010. “Scotland is an inclusive, welcoming nation, and as an organisation VisitScotland is opposed to all forms of unlawful and unfair discrimination,” a spokesman said.

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During a speech at his hotel last Thursday (20 October), he reportedly said he was ‘lucky’ to never have hired a gay employee and also made offensive remarks about John Travolta. ‘The room went so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. Not one person defended him afterwards,’ an anonymous guest told STV.

‘It’s a shame that the dinner was about emerging talent in our industry and he was making a statement that there are certain people we don’t welcome – which is not true.’ Spence, who is good friends with Donald Trump, immediately apologized the following day, calling the comments ‘ill-advised’ and describing himself as ‘mortified’.