Toronto club promoter attempted to throw ‘mock’ birthday party inside Burlington IKEA

By Lucas Casaletto

A popular Toronto club promoter tried to defy the province’s COVID-19 lockdown measures by throwing a party inside an IKEA in Burlington over the weekend.

In a YouTube video posted by “CringeDaddy”, the interviewer sat down with club promoter Julian, who admitted to carrying out a plan that included hiring models and gathering people to party inside the IKEA.

“It has to be done, somebody has to do it,” Julian said in the interview. “I can’t even have 10 people in my house.”

“…The goal is to prove a point,” he added. “It doesn’t make sense that IKEA can have 800 people in their store and I can’t have 10 people in my house but I can bring 11 people to IKEA.”

All IKEA Canada stores are currently operating at 25 percent or less capacity, the retailer says.

The club promoter said he put out a fake date on social media in an attempt to confuse bylaw officers and premier Doug Ford.


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In a statement to 680 NEWS, IKEA Canada confirmed its employees forced a group of people out of its Burlington location on Saturday and that no party took place.

“IKEA does not allow unauthorized events or filming at our store locations. We can confirm that last Saturday evening, we became aware of a group of individuals who started filming inside our Burlington store showroom,” a spokesperson said in an email.

“These individuals were immediately met by a store manager and they left IKEA Burlington shortly after. Following their departure, the CCTV footage was reviewed and we can confirm that the individuals were only at IKEA Burlington for a very short time and no party took place at our location,” they added.

With Toronto, Peel, and York Region under lockdown, and as part of Ontario’s COVID-19 regulations, IKEA Canada temporarily closed its Vaughan, Etobicoke, North York but remains open in Burlington.

“Health and safety is our top priority and we have implemented enhanced, preventative measures across our operations to ensure a safe shopping experience for our customers,” IKEA Canada said.

“These include a reduced capacity of 25 percent or less in all stores, strict physical distancing measures, mandatory masks, and enhanced cleaning, sanitization, and hygiene protocols.”

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