Disabled motivational speaker claims Zouk KL bouncers seized his crutches, is reduced to tears

An amputee has released a vlog, claiming to have been forced to stop dancing at Zouk in Kuala Lumpur when two bouncers seized his crutches.

Josh Sundquist , 31, a US motivational speaker and who was in KL to speak at a youth rally, claimed that bouncers at the Jalan Ampang club ‘stole’ his crutches as he danced with his wife Ashley last Saturday.

Narrating the incident in the video posted on his YouTube channel (which has got more than 210,000 subscribers), Sundquist — a US National Amputee Soccer team member — said: ”I pulled Ashley up and we were dancing, did some spins. People in the club were cheering for us. People were excited to see me, an amputee who’s up and about, not afraid to look a little different but still have a great time in a club.”

At this point, Sundquist pauses and eventually, breaks down. Fighting back tears, he says a security guard came in a pulled away his crutches. Another one, he said, came in later and took the other.

“I can’t move. I can’t walk. It’s funny because you’re a motivational speaker where the point of your speech is, ‘I got one leg. I have gotten used to it. I’ve accepted it’, but twelve hours later at the club I discovered that the pain still runs really deep.”

He claimed that his crutches were returned to him without any explanation. “As soon I got off the platform and gotten back my crutches, we walked out the club. Everyone I’ve met in Malaysia — well with the exception for the bouncers at the club — has been great. It was such an honour to visit here,” he said.

The video has received more than 46,000 views so far.

In a statement posted on its Facebook page, Zouk KL offered their side of the story, claiming that ‘Sundquist and his female companion ascended the female-only 2-ft high dance podium at Zouk Main Room’.

“Within a minute, a member of the security staff approached Mr Sundquist to ask him to come down from the podium, explaining to him that the podium was for women. Mr Sundquist appeared to ignore him and continued dancing on the podium.”

“His female companion moved off the podium to the dance floor, and gestured to him to come down, too. Mr Sundquist continued dancing, while another female customer went up the podium to dance.”

Contrary to Sundquist’s version, Zouk claimed their bouncers had tried to help him down from the podium as he was  ‘was dancing close to the corner of the podium and he appeared to be increasingly unsteady, as shown on the CCTV footage.’.

“The two security staff members promptly returned the crutches to Mr Sundquist once they were on the dance floor, and left him in the company of his friends. The title of Mr Sundquist’s video, “Security” gang stole my crutches, is thus inaccurate.”