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Angry clowns berate London, Ont., bookstore owner over no clowns sign

Two clowns confronted the owner of City Lights Bookstore in London, Ont., Thursday afternoon after a "no clowns allowed" sign in the store's window. The store's owner says the sign is a joke.

'No clowns have ever been banned in the shop,' City Lights Bookstore owner tweets

CBC News ·
A no clown sign put up in the window of City Lights Bookstore in London, Ont., was a joke, the owner says, but two people who work as clowns in the city have called for it to be removed. (City Lights Bookstore/Twitter)

Staff at a London, Ont., bookstore say a sign banning clowns from the store was a joke and two clowns who confronted the owner Thursday afternoon went too far.

The two clowns took offense to a sign in the window of City Lights Bookshop that had a picture of a clown with a red circle and line through the image, indicating no clowns. 

London Police officers did arrive at the bookstore to defuse the situation. No charges were laid, police said.

On Twitter, the bookstore said "no clowns have ever been banned in the shop" and the sign was a spoof given the recent rash of scary clown sightings.

"Physically intimidating and yelling at a woman is not the way to get your demands met. A decent face-to-face with respect and kindness is," the bookstore tweeted about the request by the clowns for the sign to be taken down. "We at the bookshop were collateral damage for someone else's misguided need for publicity."

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Clowns criticized after confrontation

One of the clowns involved, Lori Ackerman who performs at Lulu Palooza, wrote about the sign on her Facebook page Thursday.

Lori Ackerman, who performs as a clown under the name Lulu Palooza, was one of two clowns to confront the store owner. (Facebook)

"City Lights Bookstore just put up a no clowns sign! I need my clowns here pronto," she wrote.

The male clown, Bryan Currie — who goes by Buttons Blammo — said he was not in clown attire when he first asked the store to take down the sign. When they refused, he dressed up and went back.

Ackerman said she handed out balloons to passing children during the encounter, but many on her Facebook page criticized the move.

"Smooth move, in a time when people are already getting sick of absurd clown news, you and your friend go and make it worse," one person wrote.

On Friday, she wrote a Facebook post saying people threatened to call the Children's Aid Society on her and were attacking her personally.

"I had people attacking my personal pages because they need new hobbies and not to take up belittling my career choices," she wrote Friday morning. "Nothing will every [sic] shake this nose off, no sir-reeee!"

Several people came to the defence of the bookstore on Twitter.

Read Ackerman's response Friday.

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