A Liverpool club has pulled out of the Government’s vaccine passport scheme.
Bosses at the Hot Water Comedy Club confirmed it withdrew from the post-lockdown pilot as a result of a ‘hate campaign’ caused by misinformation.
Reports last week claimed the city centre venue had agreed to take part in the scheme which would see lateral flow tests used at large audience events.
However in a statement on Tuesday, the Hardman Street establishment’s owners insisted it had not agreed to engage with a vaccine passport protocol.
They also claimed the mixed messages sent out by the government and in media coverage had led to a torrent of abuse on its social media accounts.
“Unfortunately damage had already been done,” read the statement.
“Over the next 2 days we were subject to a hate campaign from people opposing the vaccine passport across our Facebook channel, Twitter, Instagram, emails, text messages, negative reviews, refund requests and phone calls.
“We have over 4,000 separate examples of negative reaction which have significantly damaged our business and brand.
“We went out on all of our social channels and had over 15 interviews with the media to correct the record about our involvement in the trial event and what we had agreed to be a part of.
“Unfortunately there are lots of articles still circulating wrongly stating our involvement.
“As a consequence of misleading press releases/media articles and the confusing messaging on the official government website (which was last updated on 5th April 2021) we have made the decision not to be a part of any programme at all.
“We have still not managed to speak to anybody in the government about this. We look forward to seeing you all again soon!”
Police erroneously staged a raid on the Hot Water Comedy Club in March last year after receiving a tip-off that it was hosting live events during lockdown.
In reality, the company had been streaming old shows on their social media channels which were recorded before the UK-wide restrictions took effect.