All Chris Bowman of Apex, North Carolina wanted was to have a nice summer barbecue with friendly people. So he posted an invite on Grindr: “BBQ not n ORGY.”
“It’s open to all,” the invitation read. “Men, women, gay, bi, str8, trans doesn’t matter to me.”
61-year-old Bowman also reached out to several people with personal messages, letting them know there would be plenty of delicious food and plus-ones were totally welcome:
Word of the barbecue quickly spread beyond Apex and pretty soon people around the country were posting about it:
this is my energy pic.twitter.com/r147E0H1et
— ? (@okcmputer) June 29, 2018
all i’m saying is YALL CLOSE ENOUGH TO GO BETTER GO CAUSE I DONT WANNA SEE THIS MAN SAD LIKE PAPAW WAS WHEN HE MADE 12 BURGERS FOR ALL 6 GRANDKIDS AND ONLY 1 SHOWED pic.twitter.com/cRdrWOM3fV
— anela ? (@alohaaanela) June 30, 2018
he’s the burger pawpaw of the lgbt community
— ? (@okcmputer) June 29, 2018
23-year-old Matthew Setzer, who lives nearby, received a personal invite from Bowman on Grindr. He tells BuzzFeed News that he hadn’t thought about going until he saw it went viral on social media.
“You get a lot of spam and odd messages on Grindr, so initially I just glossed over it and didn’t think much of it,” Setzer says. “But everyone was really supportive on Twitter so I thought, hey, I got the message! I might as well go to this thing.”
He and his friend Mark attended and had a great time.
“Everyone was super sweet, really engaging, and it was actually a really diverse group of people,” he says.
Afterwards, he shared photos on Twitter:
There on my page! But here! pic.twitter.com/Cajl5DW0yr
— Matthew Ibis Setzer (@MonsieurSetzer) July 1, 2018
Chrisk
I don’t know man. There would have to be some booze for me too go to this thing and it doesn’t look like that’s going to be an option.
Crystix
His message literally says “Bring your own booze”.
unreligious
That is such a sad comment on your life. If you need booze to be social perhaps you should consider why you have a need to be intoxicated to have fun.
Kangol
Well, this is a positive Grindr story for a change, and it’s great it worked out for all involved.
gravityyaoi
I love this. I would totally have gone if someone around here did that
CarrieV
I hope this wasn’t the same North Carolina BBQ:
fox5vegas.com/story/38571853/18-hospitalized-after-eating-food-contaminated-with-feces-at-cookout
Chrisk
Damn. Never let that nasty f*ck around peoples food again. Yuck.
1898
“Everyone was super sweet, really engaging, and it was actually a really diverse group of people,” he says. Afterwards, he shared photos on Twitter.
and he looks like he was having the worst time of his life
ShowMeGuy
Not all happy people look happy when they are happy.
edstan76
I’ve never posted any comments before. But for the pessimistic ones who linked to a different North Carolina bbq story a quick google search tells you the illness outbreak happened in Charlotte and this friendly gentleman is in Apex. 150 freaking miles away!!!!!
Have a little optimism in life. Look for the good in people. This is a friendly guy looking to do something good and bring strangers together as a community. I applaud this gentleman for getting his life back in order and paying things forward. Thank you good sir.
Hillers
Well said! It’s unfortunate Grindr isn’t geared a bit more to gatherings like this one rather than one-offs that may or may not last all that long.
surfpenis
Meh. Whilst I appreciate a good cookout, I don’t think I’d attend. I like all-male gatherings and I like the option of the availability of dick before/during/after the event.
realkatesmith
If I had a car, I would have reached to eat. By the way, this is fantastic idea to invite people on BBQ. I was stuck in line to apply for cash advance loans, otherwise I would be there.