Ex-TicketNetwork CEO Denies Slurs

The former CEO of TicketNetwork has denied making racist comments in connection to a February arrest that spurred a $15,000 lawsuit.

Donald Vaccaro was sued last month in Superior Court in Hartford, Conn., by a bouncer who claimed the exec’s “extreme and dangerous conduct” caused the man “humiliation, embarrassment and loss of sleep,” according to court documents obtained by the Hartford Courant.

Vaccaro was arrested and charged with intimidation based on bigotry or bias, threatening, breach of peace and interfering with an officer after he allegedly grabbed a woman and made a racial slur toward the bouncer during an Oscars party.

In a statement to the Courant, Vaccaro noted his lawyers have “filed a motion asking the Superior Court to throw out the lawsuit. I look forward to an appropriately quick end to that case and moving on with my life.”

Vaccaro also told local media outside the courthouse that he never called the bouncer a “black mother[expletive],” the paper reported. “What I would say is he was never called that.”

The arrest cast a shadow over the company’s dealings in the state. TicketNetwork, which had been chosen for an economic incentive program that would have provided the company with millions in state funds for job creation, opted out of the deal following the incident.

Vaccaro has been accepted into a two-year probationary program that could erase his criminal charges, the Courant said.