Vancouver strip club back on X after sign referencing Trump flagged as hate speech
Vancouver’s Penthouse strip club is back on X after it was booted off the social media platform for its latest marquee sign that made a playful jab at US President-elect Donald Trump.
The Penthouse is known for its clever use of words on its iconic signs. Last week, it changed its marquee to read “Forever Neighbours, Never Neighbors.”
The line referenced the different American and Canadian spelling for certain words and opposed Trump’s repeated comments about Canada becoming a 51st US state.
However, a few hours after putting up the sign and posting it to social media, the strip club’s account was suspended on X for violating its “hateful profile policy.”
The Penthouse/X
In a previous interview with Daily Hive, Benjamin Jackson, the club’s bar manager and the sign’s creator, said he was “shocked” by X’s decision.
“This is the first time that we’ve been suspended by X,” he said at the time.
“It’s just my speculation, but hopefully someone will review the tweet that people reported, realize it’s not as bad as it seems, and it will be lifted. But to get an answer out of X is impossible.”
Benjamin Jackson, Bar Manager and Marquee Maker at The Penthouse in Vancouver.
Fans of The Penthouse were quick to call out X, questioning the platform about why the account was labelled as “hateful.”
According to the X Help Centre, the platform may flag or add notices to accounts if they “determine that a person has violated the rules in a particularly egregious way, or has repeatedly violated them even after receiving notifications from us.”
Hey @X, you can’t be serious that this is a ‘hateful profile’?#ThePenthouse604 pic.twitter.com/agr7wtYpZI
— John George McCracken (@BigJMcC) January 10, 2025
So happy I got a screenshot of this beautiful sign before their account got suspended (apparently because of this marquee) ❤️ @ThePenthouse604 #neighbours #thepenthouse604 pic.twitter.com/Mg7Gifm3FE
— Rox Cugnet (@_roxyroller) January 10, 2025
Fast forward to the weekend and X appeared to have done damage control as The Penthouse’s account is back up.
Daily Hive caught up with Jackson on Monday afternoon to learn more about how the account was restored.
He explained that one of the club’s old general managers is the only person who has access to the email associated with The Penthouse’s X profile.
“I haven’t spoken to this guy in… years and the last thing I’d want to do is reach out and ask them for that email,” shared Jackson.
When trying to get the account back up and running again, Jackson’s only option was to hope that the previous manager was getting the email prompts from X about how to restore the account.
Jackson suspects that the old GM must have followed through with X’s instructions because X reinstated The Penthouse’s profile early Sunday morning, and supporters took notice.
Hey you’re back!!
— Christi (@misschristijo) January 11, 2025
Glad you’re back!
— Erik (@ErikHalfBee) January 11, 2025
Welcome back! Someone must have realized they made a mistake. Your visitor count is going to go thru the roof.
— Sleaf62 🇨🇦 (@sleaf) January 13, 2025
The bar manager said he’ll be a bit more cautious about what he’s posting on social media now, even though the sign didn’t contain any hate speech and was meant to be lighthearted political commentary.
“I’ve pushed the envelope far more times in the last seven, eight years, and… we’ve done some stuff that’s gotten some different kinds of feedback and everything. But to me… I thought it was a schoolyard joke,” he said.
“It’s going to be something that’s going to be in the back of my mind now… Like just even when I say the words ‘violating hate speech’ my heart dropped. That’s the last thing I wanted to be associated with or have The Penthouse associated with.”
Jackson added that at the end of the day, he’s just “trying to make people laugh.”
“I will be more cautious going forward about stuff, but I always thought I was in the past and this one kind of caught me off guard.”
With files from Daniel Chai