Toronto Bar Sparks Outrage Over “No Means Yes, Yes Means Anal” Sign

A Toronto bar is receiving heat for a sign that had a joke making light of rape, according to the CBC.

The sign, which read, "No Means Yes, Yes Means A***," caused an issue Saturday evening when Katii Capern—who was at the King Street West bar Locals Only with her friends—saw the sign and asked the bartender what the "A***" part meant, to which she was told "anal."

"Once I realized the whole message, I felt sick to my stomach," she told the CBC. "Rape jokes are never OK, ever, but it's even more troubling to see in a bar because of the prevalence of date rape."

According to Capern—who originally made noise about the bar on social media—support for her statement has been tremendous. On Sunday night, Locals Only posted a Facebook status apologizing for the incident and informing the public that the employee responsible for the sign had been fired.

Bar co-owner Jonathan Condren told the CBC that the sign was not acceptable at all, and that his staff would be receiving new sensitivity training on acceptable workplace behaviour.

"We're all immensely upset, shocked, disgusted, appalled and truly apologetic, of course," he told CBC. "There's no place for a sign like that to be anywhere."

When asked by the CBC about allegations of similar signs and sentiments in the past that have been hung around the bar (one reportedly read, "Snapchat me that pussy," referencing the popular "Down in the DMs" lyric by rapper Yo Gotti), Corden said that all other incidents have been dealt with swiftly, and that the signs are an unfortunate byproduct of the bar trying to be edgy.

"We try to make the place a fun environment for our staff to get involved and do things, and obviously sometimes if they're unsupervised these things happen and we immediately come in and rectify the situation," he said.

Locals Only did not immediately respond to VICE's request for comment.

Read More: Another Frosh Week, Another Terrible 'No Means Yes' Controversy

This incident comes just weeks after another Toronto bar was shut down after a woman was allegedly locked inside and gang raped by two employees. The men involved in that case have been charged with 16 counts including sexual assault and forcible confinement.

In the past, both La Carnita and El Furniture Warehouse—two popular Toronto establishments—have come under fire for their social media posts. Last year, La Carnita posted an image on social media making light of President Donald Trump's infamous "grab her by the pussy" remarks by joking about grabbing their trademark tacos.

In 2015, El Furniture Warehouse drew criticism after making fun of Caitlyn Jenner's Vanity Fair cover by comparing it to a transphobic scene in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

Follow Jake Kivanc on Twitter.

Lead image via Facebook.