A Vancouver strip club says one of its social media channels disappeared after it responded to U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent executive order renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America.
Trump signed an order directing the U.S. government to refer to Lake Ontario, one of the Great Lakes, as “Lake America,” in his latest shot against Canada after trade talks fell apart last week.
The signature marquee above the Penthouse Nightclub’s Seymour Street entrance now bears the message: “CANT HANDLE A POOL BUT WANTS OUR LAKE?” in reference to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool debacle.
Weeks after the Trump administration’s $14 million plus renovation project was completed in June, the Washington, D.C. landmark was overrun with green algae and peeling paint.
Without evidence, Trump claimed that vandalism was to blame for the pool’s problems, and announced several arrests had been made.
The U.S. Department of Justice later acknowledged the allegations didn’t hold water, and the damage was caused by the contractor’s rushed and botched repair job.
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Within hours of the sign’s appearance Friday evening and the same message posted to the Penthouse social media platforms, owner Danny Filippone said the club’s Instagram account was taken down.
“This is one of our first jabs we’ve made, political jabs, in a while and I mean, we think that the customers, the people walking up and down Seymour street, seem to think it’s quite funny,” Filippone told Global News in an interview Sunday.
“Obviously someone on the other side of the border doesn’t see our humour.”
Meanwhile, a Kelowna entrepreneur said he wanted to respond with some Canadian humour.
“The gut reaction was literally, It’s Lake Ontario,” It’s Lake Ontario founder Sean McHaffie said Sunday.
McHaffie launched a pro-Canada T-shirt store on Shopify, a Canadian company, and said the first classic Lake Ontario apparel collection was online at itslakeontario.ca within 24 hours.
“We’re just going to enjoy the moment, kind of rally Canadians around being Canadian,” McHaffie told Global News.
As the Penthouse Nightclub tries to recover its missing Instagram account, Filippone said he stands by his words.
“The sign’s not coming down,” he said Sunday.
Filippone said a previous sign last year in response to Trump’s comment about making Canada the 51st state. “Forever neighbours, never neighbors”, was cited as hate speech on X, and it took a while to get that account back.
Until Trump’s executive order saying the U.S. lays claim to most of the “volume” of Lake Ontario, Filippone said the Penthouse Nightclub had been careful with its one-liners.
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