Update: Club member Steven "Kit" Hagen addresses the concept of disruptive art in this week's Back Page for Style.

A young black man says he was thrown out of a Shockoe Bottom club after he tried to tear down a sign that used the N-word to proclaim that blacks weren't allowed.

It happened Saturday during a doomsday-themed party at Fallout, a private, alternative, fetish-themed club on 18th Street.

Several attendees of the annual event say they were jarred by decorations that included racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic messages. Other signs featured swastikas and an epithet telling gays to "go home."

While previous years focused on zombies and raptures, attendees say the apparent intent this year was to portray "some kind of unspecified intolerant apocalypse."

The club, which takes pride in being accepting of views outside the mainstream, is standing by the decorations as art, saying that the signs and symbols were part of a temporary art piece representing a world in social collapse.

"This piece is purely representative of what a post-apocalyptic world might look like, and is meant to be viewed as nothing more than that," says the statement, sent by the club's business manager, Jackie Bishop Wells. "It does not represent the feelings or beliefs of the staff, management, owners, affiliates or members of this establishment.

"A misunderstanding between two customers regarding this particular installation led to an act of violence. The aggressor in this situation was asked to leave for the safety of our members and their guests."

The man who tore the sign down, speaking on the condition that he isn't named, says a bouncer immediately kicked him out. Afterward, he says, several club members followed him outside where they argued with him.

"They just tried to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal," he says. "Obviously they are trying to cover up the fact that it's obviously racist as fuck."

The club is open to the public on weeknights and members and their guests on weekends, according to Fallout's website. The club says that it encourages discussion of a variety of social issues:

"In many events at Fallout, we consider the entire evening to be a large scale audience participation performance art event. In these events, and others, we address and challenge, to varying degrees, many issues and topics, including but not limited to: social issues, politics, age, gender, religion, lifestyle, subculture, race, current events, cultural stereotypes and sexual awareness issues."

A fetish club inevitably is going to hold events that certain people find offensive, members note. But they differ on whether this party went too far.

"Fallout has nothing to apologize for," a member wrote on the club's Facebook page. "It's not their fault one person out of a hundred didn't 'get it.'"

"THAT GUY, had issuez," wrote another. "There's always one in the crowd."

Other members expressed concern. "Obviously what happened was not OK," Rose Hart wrote in an email to Style. "Some of us chose to ignore it, and some of us seemed more offended by the kid taking down one cardboard sign than they were by a regular who threw meat all over the club later in the evening.

"If we want our community to be welcoming to new people, especially new queer people and people of color, do we really want this to be how we advertise during our biggest party of the year?"

Jonathan Zur, the president of Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, says similar parties seem to make news every year, though typically they're on college campuses. Last year, for example, a Randolph-Macon College fraternity encouraged party guests to dress like "illegal Mexicans."

Zur says he's surprised club members would think their racist apocalypse decorations wouldn't offend. And the club's intent doesn't matter, he says.

"Whether or not I meant to offend someone, that person can still be offended," Zur says. "If I focus just on my intention, I miss the opportunity to truly understand the impact of my action.

"Ultimately, no matter the intention, the use of offensive words and symbols has no place in a diverse and inclusive community."

More to the story:

Fallout's full statement to Style. In regards to Doomsday: In many events at Fallout, we consider the entire evening to be a large scale audience participation performance art event. In these events, and others, we address and challenge, to varying degrees, many issues and topics, including but not limited to: social issues, politics, age, gender, religion, lifestyle, subculture, race, current events, cultural stereotypes and sexual awareness issues. A temporary graffiti art piece representing a world in social collapse was created by a group of people during the inception of this event. Throughout the years the content of this piece changes slightly but the representation of society in degradation, with no moral construct or rules, remains the same. This piece is purely representative of what a post-apocalyptic world might look like, and is meant to be viewed as nothing more than that. It does not represent the feelings or beliefs of the staff, management, owners, affiliates or members of this establishment. A misunderstanding between two customers regarding this particular installation led to an act of violence. The aggressor in this situation was asked to leave for the safety of our members and their guests. If you have any questions or comments regarding the fundamental concepts of Fallout, please feel free to contact a member of management. Thank You. Fallout