Some of that is best practices, not just about COVID.” We will of course keep antibacterials and face masks available. “We will still be taking temperatures,” Wright tells us, adding, “We have to have some layer of safety for guests and staff. The strip club - which has locations on the Upper East Side, Midtown and in Times Square - will be keeping some COVID rules in place. We will be able to provide people an opportunity to make money again because everybody hurt.” “It’s an aggressive audition and hiring process right now … I am super excited. ![]() “If I get 1,500 performers back to NYC that would be phenomenal,” he tells us. While many of the entertainers were laid off during the pandemic or fled town, Wright is looking forward to giving people work. “People want contact and to be out of isolation and enjoy and smile and have human contact. More recently, dancers have been performing on stage at a 12-foot-distance from patrons, but “tableside dancing” was still a no-no.īut with mandates dropped, “It means it’s business back to normal,” Wright tells us. The spot’s restaurant portions were open in January. “We were busy!,” chief operating operator Michael Wright tells Page Six, explaining that the pandemic was “extremely challenging.” With Cuomo’s announcement Tuesday that he was lifting COVID restrictions on commercial and social settings, gentlemen packed into all three locations of jiggle joint Sapphire for the return of some skin-on-skin contact. In recent weeks, Cuomo has announced that large establishments like Madison Square Garden can open and movie theatres were permitted to reopen earlier this month, along with businesses with recreational activities including darts, racket games and axe throwing.Ĭomedy clubs, nightclubs and Broadway theatres will open in April, the lawsuit noted.My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over: lap dances are back. It noted that other indoor establishments were also allowed to open at various times, including Saturday Night Live in October. New York State formally outlawed the operation of strip clubs during the pandemic in early July despite allowing live music indoors, the lawsuit said. Yet, the lawsuit said, Cuomo and the state have ordered restaurants and bars "with exotic dancing to remain closed while permitting night clubs, lounges, jazz dinner theatres, churches, axe throwing venues, billiards halls, event venues for weddings, casinos, restaurants and bars with live music and bowling alleys that pose similar or greater risks of COVID-19 transmission to reopen."Īccording to the lawsuit, at least 41 other states allow similar businesses to remain open. They pledged to require masks and temperature checks for guests and employees, to keep everyone safely apart and to engage in frequent cleanings of all surfaces with ample supplies of disinfectant throughout the clubs. The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, maintains that four strip clubs in Queens have been ready to open with COVID-19 safety protocols since the early days of the pandemic. "While we are working to reopen as many facets of the economy as quickly and safely as possible, science, data, and common sense dictate that exotic dancing is not allowable at this time," spokesperson Jack Sterne said in a statement. In December, a judge in California let two San Diego strip clubs make their own determinations about providing a safe environment for dancers and patrons during the pandemic.Ī spokesperson for the governor's office said the lawsuit attempts to undermine "science-based public health measures." It also was filed after similar clashes between establishments that allow nudity or dancing in other states. The lawsuit comes as the state's widening of rules for bars and restaurants have led many to open this week. Andrew Cuomo and the state's liquor licensing authority.Įxotic dancing clubs including "Starlet's," "Sugar Daddy's" and "Gallagher's 2000" in the borough of Queens asked the court to declare it a violation of the First and 14th Amendments to keep their clubs closed while letting other enclosed establishments open up. The lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court claimed that thousands of employees are forced out of work by the state's ban because of the coronavirus. ![]() A group of New York City exotic dancing clubs sued New York state Thursday, saying it's not fair that they're being kept closed when everything from axe-throwing venues to bars with live music and casinos can open up.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |