The marquee at The Penthouse strip club in downtown Vancouver is known for its edgy comments on politics and pop culture.
“I had a funny idea probably about eight years ago, for the sole purpose of trying to make the staff laugh, our friends laugh,” said Penthouse bar manager Benjamin Jackson.
“First one went up, it went viral, and we just kept going.”
But the man behind the marquee never expected his latest message would be labelled hate speech on social media.
“It’s shocking to me. It’s ridiculous to be honest,” said Jackson, who came up with the cheeky “Forever Neighbours, Never Neighbors “ message in response to Donald Trump wanting Canada to become the 51st state.
“It’s a play on words for the spelling of neighbour,” he explained. Canada spells neighbour with a ‘U’, while America does not.
Penthouse owner Danny Filippone said it’s a message about how Canadians …