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STATE LIQUOR AUTHORITY
NUDITY CHARGE DISMISSED

West Village bar penalized after male dancer’s towel slipped off leaving him momentarily exposed. Undercover police visited Cheers of Manhattan, a West Village gay bar located at the site of the historic Stonewall Inn. Police observed a male dancer with a towel wrapped around his waist just as the towel slipped off, revealing nothing underneath. Criminal charges were dropped after a judge found that any nudity was brief and inadvertent. The State Liquor Authority, however, charged Cheers with allowing a person to appear nude on the premises in violation of the Authority’s rules. After a hearing, the Authority sustained the charges, fined Cheers $2,000, and imposed a 7-day liquor license suspension.

On appeal, Justice Marilyn Shafer invalidated the Authority’s rule, finding that the state’s alcohol beverage control laws required a finding of disorderly conduct to suspend a license, which the Authority’s rule did not include. Justice Shafer also annulled the penalty, ruling that the Authority abused its discretion given that there was no prior history of violations, no finding of lewd or disorderly conduct, and the charge involved a single incident.

Cheers of Manhattan v. State Liquor Authority, N.Y.L.J., Feb. 6, 2006, at 19 (N.Y.Cty.Sup.Ct.) (Shafer, J).