The Donnelly Group has responded to a radio news story suggesting that the company may have discriminated against a group of people of South Asian descent in 2008.

News 1130 published an internal email exchange between a company manager and a VIP host, in which 20 people with what appeared to be South Asian names were refused a reservation at the Republic nightclub on Granville Street.

According to a copy of the email, the company asked for the names of all the people who would be attending the event, before refusing the request. "All the names speak for itself," the manager wrote in a message to the VIP host, which was accidentally sent to the person who made the request.

The email ended up in the hands of the radio station. This has resulted in the Donnelly Group being slammed in various social media.

Donnelly Group president Jeff Donnelly said in the statement that the company is "actively investigating the allegation that one of our employees may have denied a guest list booking at Republic based on the names of the guests in April 2008".

"We take these claims very seriously, and are working hard to understand exactly what happened and confirm all of the facts," Donnelly stated. "This is a very unfortunate incident, and of course we understand the strong feelings associated with these claims."

The Donnelly Group has 13 venues, and describes itself as an "equal opportunities company that employs over 450 people and caters to people of all backgrounds and race".

"We do not condone prejudice of any kind, and our staff and clientele are an obvious testament to that," Donnelly added.

The company has encouraged anyone with positive or negative experiences at its operations to comment via email at info@donnellygroup.ca.