Bar’s Super Bowl party creates community  

For the first time, the community gathered at Rumours Lounge & Cabaret on Feb. 8 to celebrate together in a safe space and watch the biggest football game of the year, the Super Bowl. 

Rumours co-owner Gerald McCowan said that both he and his husband (the bar’s other co-owner José Chiu), want Rumours to be more than just a gay bar. They want it to be a space for the entire community. 

“People told us we’re not a sports bar,” he told The Signal in a phone interview. “But we are. We have to be a sports bar, we have to be this, we have to be that. In order to make it for the community.” 

“Everything that Rumours does is for the community. We’re a community bar, we’re community centre, and we do it for the community.”  

National silver medallist figure skater Chris Mabee attended the event. He said he always watches the Super Bowl. For him, watching sports in a collective space brings people together.  

“Sports do a really great job of creating a sense of community and to be able to watch it in this space where community is a high value item it’s just great,” he said.  

“Rumours is a really fun place to go to. For them to be able to offer this as a space for sports fans to come together, cheer for teams and appreciate the halftime show is great.”  

Natalia Ducart is more of a soccer fan, but this year she watched the Super Bowl to see Bad Bunny perform in the halftime show.  

“There was one of the songs that he’s saying, ‘I’m not moving from here, this is my home,’ that really relates to me,” she said. “I’m from South America and … I’m trying to find my place in the country as well.”  

Although she was mostly there to see the halftime show, Ducart cheered for the Seattle Seahawks as they scored their first touchdown.  

“It was good to see,” she said. “After somebody explained the rules to me it was fun to watch.”  

During the halftime show, headlined by Bad Bunny and with guest artists such as Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, the bar was in party mode. People were dancing, cheering and singing along.  

“I think the favourite part about most people’s Super Bowl is the halftime show,” said Mabee. “The production value and the theatrics that go into it is so impressive.”  

Even though he’s not a fan of Bad Bunny, Maybee still cheered while the performance was playing on the TV. 

“They’re just so good at hitting so many pieces of entertainment it’s really spectacular,” he said. “I don’t even think you need to be a fan of the headliner, you can just sit back and really appreciate the production value that it plays.”