Republican Presidential frontrunner Donald Trump may be making an appearance in Montreal this month, at least if local businessman Peter Sergakis has his way.
The infamous bar and restaurant owner has invited Trump to be the guest of honour, welcoming patrons to the grand opening of Jersey’s Saloon, a Coyote Ugly-style bar set to have two locations, one which used to house NDG landmark MAZ Bar.
“We’ve turned a community watering hole into a resto-bar where women wearing next to nothing dance on tables and pour drinks. It’s a flashback to a hypersexualized fad from the 90s that never took hold in Montreal,” Sergakis told the press, “who better to kick it off than Donald Trump!”
For Sergakis, this is a follow-up to far right French Front Nationale leader Marine Le Pen speaking at another one of his bars, Station de Sports in Montreal’s Gay Village. The connection wasn’t lost on the bar and real estate magnate:
“I didn’t get enough traction with far-right drinkers by inviting Le Pen,” the businessman lamented, “hopefully Trump will change that! Or, at the very least, we could get Milania, she’s hot!”
When asked about the invitation, Trump was enthusiastic, stating that it was a good reason for him not to build a wall along the US border with Canada. While he emphasized that his attendance would depend on his campaign commitments, he made it clear that if he did not show up, Montrealers should blame “Muslims and China.”
Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton didn’t have anything to tell the press, though reports indicate she has asked Sergakis how much a speaking gig at his new bar paid. Trump’s principal GOP opponent Ted Cruz, meanwhile, said: “What? Who is this? Forget the what? How did you get this number?”
It was Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, though, who hit the proverbial nail on the head:
“Oh, April Fools, funny, now let’s get back to the real issues!”
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Seriously, though, while the Trump part was a joke, Peter Sergakis did harbour Marine Le Pen when she was in Montreal and is planning on turning what was MAZ Bar in NDG into a Coyote Ugly-style resto-bar, or at least he was until yesterday, when the promo video for Jersey’s Saloon was removed from YouTube and rumous surfaced that he had changed his plan.
Maybe it was the rather vocal opposition to his plan, or possibly the fact that he realized it was the wrong location and year for this concept to take hold (Don’t get me wrong, I love burlesque, but this is not burlesque. I also have no problem with strip clubs, but this is not a strip club. It’s just a cheesy idea and not in a good way). Or just maybe this was itself an April Fools joke executed a few days early. We may never know.
Also, Donald Trump is still the frontrunner to be the Republican candidate for the presidency. And no one in the party or his campaign has said April Fool’s on that one yet!
