Public posts and business filings gathered by anonymous electronic music industry watchdog Business Teshno suggest a conflict of interest between the aforementioned parties. On June 10th, Gou announced her involvement in #SaveOurNights, which would see Jägermeister donate €1 million to music brands sidelined by COVID-19. On July 7th – the same day #SaveOurSub was launched – she shared that Sub Club would be one of the recipients.

 

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I’m honoured to be partnering with @jagermeister to donate 1 Million Euro to carefully selected venues, events, artists, promoters, and initiatives in 10 countries around the world as part of the #SAVETHENIGHT initiative. It’s time for me to give back and #SAVETHENIGHT will offer much needed support to the struggling nightlife industry, which has been hit very hard by the pandemic. If we can come together as a community and get through this difficult time, I’m sure our best nights are yet to come. www.save-the-night.com 예거마스터와 코로나로 인해 무너지고있는 클럽씬, 음악 인더스트리를 위해 15억원을 기부하는 캠페인을 시작하게 되었습니다. 한국을포함한 10개국의 클럽베뉴, 프로모터, 아티스트들을 도와줄 예정이며 제가 느끼고있던 감사함을 음악씬에 돌려줄수있게되어 영광입니다. 곧 업뎃해드릴게요! ? @mokjungwook

A post shared by Peggy Gou 페기 구 (@peggygou_) on Jun 10, 2020 at 6:24am PDT

 

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One of the world’s longest running and most important clubs, Sub Club in Glasgow, is facing permanent closure. I have amazing memories of playing Sub Club and had really hoped to go back this year. As part of the @jagermeister #SaveTheNight initiative we will be making a donation from @jagermeisteruk to #SaveOurSub. You can also support by sharing the fundraising campaign @subclub87 Link: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/saveoursub

A post shared by Peggy Gou 페기 구 (@peggygou_) on Jul 7, 2020 at 9:49am PDT

Gou’s professional relationship with Khushi has called the motives of such a donation into question. In addition to his role as one of the three directors of Sub Club parent company Outer Limits Ltd, he is the sole director of Gou’s merchandise business, Peggy Goods Ltd.

According to Business Teshno, spokespeople on behalf of Jägermeister stated that they stopped considering #SaveOurSub as a recipient because “donating to a club with business ties to people involved in the initiative would lead to false impressions and harm the cause it is designed for.”

The revelation comes a matter of days after The Ferret published an exposé showing that the parents of another Sub Club director, Barry Price had themselves sold the adjacent property to JD Wetherspoon. The developer’s legal battle with the club was included in the #SaveOurSub campaign description as one of the costs threatening the future of the establishment.

Spokespeople on behalf of Peggy Gou, Usman Khushi and Jägermeister did not immediately respond to Selector‘s request for comment.

A July 5th Instagram post showed Khushi traveling to Berlin via private jet to celebrate the birthday of superstar techno/house DJ Peggy Gou. A twitter user with the handle @parcelorogues took issue with him boasting about what appears to be a lavish lifestyle before calling upon fans for donations to help keep Sub Club afloat in a July 7th post, and a chorus of social media commentators soon followed. The Glasgow Times reports that Khushi’s family fortune was estimated at £90 million last year; #SaveOurSub’s initial crowdfunding target was .001% of that amount.

if i was a director of Sub Club moaning about not being able to access the furlough scheme and appealing for public donations, I would probably not fill my insta feed with pics of me on private jets (or be a heir to one of Scotland’s biggest fortunes ?)

— Liam. (@parcelorogues) July 7, 2020

“What is the point of having having extraordinary wealthy people be directors and shareholders of a club if that wealth isn’t going to help the club and its staff during a crisis?” tweeted Lauren Martin of DJ Mag. “Seeing people in comments saying they’ll donate their UC money during a pandemic is upsetting.”

Some who donated expressed a desire to cancel their pledge (which Crowdfunder allows), demanding “save it yourself.” Glasgow politicians like Annie Wells and Patrick Harvie also openly criticized Khushi’s posts.

Kushi posted a response to the outcry via Instagram on July 8th, clarifying his role in the club and acknowledging the conflicting messages of his posts. He claimed that he bought into the club in 2019 with no plans to profit from the endeavor.

“I’ve never made a penny out of the club and never will – I’ve only put money in,” he wrote. “I don’t have any day-to-day involvement other than as an unpaid advisor to Mike [Grieve] and Barry [Price] who run the club and are pulling together a herculean effort to ensure it comes out the other end of this crisis.” He claimed that he donated himself at the time of the campaign’s launch.

Khushi also dismissed notions that the trip served as an indicator of his wealth. “I was a guest on a trip to Berlin last weekend where we travelled on a private plane and I shared this on my Instagram,” he wrote. “I don’t own a plane, and didn’t charter one personally, but in hindsight I can understand why these posts taken together, out of context, have caused some confusion and are insensitive, which I regret. We live and learn.”

According to The Scottish Sun, Usman Khushi holds 20% ownership stake in Sub Club with the remainder split evenly between Price and Grieve. He also serves as director of Scottish sportswear brand Tresspass. He frequently posts about his travels; among his recent destinations are Bali, Miami, Ibiza, Thailand and Hong Kong.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it a shift in perspective on crowdfunding campaigns in the electronic music community. Dave Clarke remarked in an interview that Resident Advisor‘s “Save Our Scene” initiative in March should have been called “Save Our Hierarchy.” Two month later, superstar DJs like Carl Cox, Nicole Moudaber and Dubfire were called tone deaf for launching a fundraiser to support their tour managers.

At the time of writing, #SaveOurSub sits at double its initial goal with just shy of £181,000 in donations.