Mexico City Club Slaps Americans With $300 Cover

A Mexico City nightclub has turned its door fee into a pointed message about who's welcome—and who's paying for it. Japan, a club in the trendy Roma Norte district, is going viral for a pricing scheme that leaves US citizens on the hook for about $300 to get in, while everyone else pays a fraction of that, reports the Guardian. Non-American foreigners are charged roughly $20, Mexicans and other Latin Americans about $14, and students and teachers even less. "It's not that 'we charge gringos more' it's that we offer discounts to people that need it," the club said on Instagram, adding that the full cover is 5,000 pesos and "Citizens of the USA don't get a discount."

Owner Federico Crespo frames the move as both political and economic. "This is a response to a year of insults directed at us—as a country—by the United States," he said. "It's very much a response to the many attacks against Mexico from Trump." He also points to rising anger in Mexico City over gentrification and the influx of foreign "digital nomads." Locals blame them for soaring rents, more Airbnbs, and neighborhoods where English now rivals Spanish. The club says the extra cover cash goes directly to its workers—people it argues are feeling the squeeze of higher living costs and longer commutes as once-affordable areas transform. Read the full story at the Guardian.