A group of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK stars were evacuated from London’s Heaven nightclub this week after a “sick individual” made a hoax bomb threat.
The Vivienne, Tia Kofi, Veronica Green and their drag sister Shania Pain were rehearsing for a new tour at the venue on Monday (May 3). Then police arrived and ordered the queens to evacuate.
Venue owner Jeremy Joseph said he had to walk around the venue with police officers and sniffer dogs
Police also evacuated at least one train station nearby and neighbouring streets.
“I’m not going to lie, it was frightening,” Joseph tweeted.
“But I can’t praise the police dog team enough, they were amazing… They have to enter a building not knowing if a threat is real or a hoax.”
He blasted the person responsible for the hoax as “nothing more than a sick individual”.
“The police took every precaution before re-opening the streets and I can’t thank them enough,” Joseph added.
He earlier shared photos (above) of the four performers rehearsing before the evacuation.
‘Whoever it was, shame on you’
On Instagram, The Vivienne took to Instagram to explain the incident and thank the police.
“We were up in rehearsal and police stormed in. [They] informed us that we had to evacuate the venue, because there’d been a bomb scare,” the Drag Race UK winner said.
“Somebody had phoned the police… knowing that we were at the venue rehearsing.
“The police were absolutely amazing. They made us feel so safe.”
Viv added, “It’s such a shame after lockdown and everybody dying to get back to work and back on stage, we’re finally there.
“[We’re] finally rehearsing for stuff and somebody decided to do a horrible hoax, prank.
“Whoever it was, shame on you. But thank you so so much to the police because you handled it absolutely amazingly.
“You made us all feel so, so safe.”
View this post on Instagram
Tia Kofi said the “terrifying experience” left her shaken up but thanked fans for their messages.
“It just goes to show how absolutely vile some people are,” the Drag Race UK queen wrote.
“To have the intention to cause people to be so frightened in a moment is disgusting.”
Police say ‘no motive yet’ after Drag Race UK stars evacuated
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson explained they received a phone call after discovery of a “suspicious item” at the venue.
“The premises was closed to the public at the time,” the spokesperson said.
Police put a safety cordon in place in surrounding streets as a precaution and evacuated the adjacent Charing Cross Railway Station for a short time, they said.
“Specialist officers attended and examined the item which was subsequently confirmed as non-suspicious,” the spokesperson said.
“The circumstances in which the item was found suggest that it was part of an intentional hoax.
“An investigation is under way to identify the person or persons responsible.
“There is no indication, at this early stage, of a particular motive.
“But that will form one of the key lines of enquiry for officers as their investigation continues.”
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