The owner of hip gay night club Motel 23, Michael J. Cohen, ni accatns of sexual misnduct by an NBC News story. The NBC News vtigatn claims claims Cohen "groped or prsured men to have sex or send nu photos, as well as a claim of sexual asslt — over the past . Sce July,
Contents:
- ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL MEN NYC'S GAY NIGHTLIFE SCENE FAC OVER A OF SEXUAL MISNDUCT ALLEGATNS
- NYC HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICIALS ARE 'CLOSELY MONORG' ALLEGATNS AGAST THE OWNER OF A GAY BAR
- OWNER OF HIP GAY NIGHTCLUB ‘MOTEL 23’ DENI SEXUAL MISNDUCT ACCATNS
- GAY USA
ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL MEN NYC'S GAY NIGHTLIFE SCENE FAC OVER A OF SEXUAL MISNDUCT ALLEGATNS
Michael J. Cohen, who owns Motel 23 and has hosted some of Manhattan’s most exclive gay parti, enticed young men wh accs to nightclubs and queer muny, they say. * motel 23 gay bar *
This clud five who said that when they were their late teens or early 20s and yearng for a sense of gay muny, Cohen grabbed their genals or buttocks at parti he hosted or at Motel 23. Six of the ne accers said that bee they were newly out of the closet and didn’t know many queer people when the enunters occurred, they prumed that the cints were normal wh the gay muny, even though they were upset by them at the of Cohen’s accers add that havg accs to New York’s gay bars and parti meant so much to them, pecially for those who were unr 21, that they were willg to put up wh Cohen’s advanc. The five men who said Cohen groped them said that while they were dismayed and tried to manver away om him, they did not tell him to stop, bee they didn’t want to lose their nnectn to gay nightlife.
It wasn’t jt about experiencg fun nights out wh their iends — was about the sense of eedom and acceptance they felt when surround by other gay people, some s for the first time their liv, they said. Hall scribed Cohen as “a proud gay man wh no shame about his activy on social media, where he has asked adult men to send him sexual pictur, cludg those of their genals.
There is no ditn that they knew about the allegatns of misnduct agast Cohen and Motel 23 reported by NBC allegatns ept to public viewCohen has hosted gay parti at glamoro New York nightclubs — cludg Goldbar, PHD Rooftop Lounge at the Dream Downtown hotel and Fishbowl at the Dream Midtown hotel — wh reliable crowds of attractive men and star-studd gut lists.
NYC HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICIALS ARE 'CLOSELY MONORG' ALLEGATNS AGAST THE OWNER OF A GAY BAR
Jarvis Derrell and Rob Morean are figur well-known two distct, but not entirely separate, New York social spher: theatre and queer nightlife. The two iends are lifelong performers and personali—Morean was an unrstudy the Broadway revival of Torch Song Trilogy, and Derrell is perhaps bt known for his “She Has Had It!” Instagram acunt—who n often be seen toastg each others’ theatril nature around the NYC queer ’ve now partnered up to host Backstage Tea, a weekly Broadway-themed baret at Motel 23, a gay cktail lounge which opened last year Chelsea. The show promis well-known stars and up-and-g performers “sgg their favore songs, answerg your burng qutns, and spillg all the tea,” wh their first lp featurg J. Harrison Ghee (Mrs. Doubtfire, Kky Boots) and Danny Peter Smh, and future guts cludg Jelani Remy (A’t Too Proud, The Ln Kg) and Sojourner Monday night rincy at first seems unlikely programmg for the revelro club perhaps bt known for hostg Lil Nas X’s SNL after-party, so I spoke wh Derrell and Morean ahead of their first performance to get the sop on their amb plan." name="scriptn * motel 23 gay bar *
Some of the world’s most well-known gay celebri, cludg Brish Olympic gold medalist Tom Daley, actor Neil Patrick Harris and rapper Lil Nas X, have been photographed wh Cohen or ma an appearance at Motel 23. “It was known for him to be an olr man that liked the younger boys, ” said Bra Filter, a star of “RuPl’s Drag Race, ” who has performed New York Cy’s gay bars for over eight years.
Cohen has hosted events that drew some of the world’s most well-known gay celebri. Allegatns about Cohen’s behavr circulatg among New York’s gay men epted to public view early July, when dozens of allegatns about Motel 23 were posted on an anonymo Instagram acunt.
At the door, the man, who said he had never met Cohen before and do not equent New York’s gay nightlife scene, said that Cohen was gog to let him for ee, but charge his iend, who is Black, $250 for admissn.
OWNER OF HIP GAY NIGHTCLUB ‘MOTEL 23’ DENI SEXUAL MISNDUCT ACCATNS
* motel 23 gay bar *
” Wh days, he had received a flood of msag wh allegatns, he anonymo claims posted by the acunt llectively allege that Motel 23’s owner turned gay parti and bars, which some see as queer safe spac, to toxic environments where young men were subjected to unwanted sexual advanc. Brtany Bent, 31, said that this sprg, the bar’s door staff told her she would have to pay a $150 ver to enter, while the three iends who acpanied her — all gay men — uld get for ee. “It’s jt so crazy that any discrimatn’s happeng at a gay bar, ” she said.
Seekg New York newers Long before he opened Motel 23, Cohen had a knack for nnectg wh young, gay men new to New York Cy, reachg out to them wh weeks of their arrival, five men said. “I thk he jt looked at my Facebook photos and jt had an klg like, ‘Oh, he’s got to be gay, ’” said T., who was then 17.
“He knew I was gay before I knew I was gay. “To me, was clear that he was a proment person New York’s gay nightlife.
GAY USA
He started hostg parti at Phoenix Bar, a popular gay venue the East Village. ’ — bee I was wearg a palm tree shirt — ‘You gay? ’”Insi, Cohen, then 38, troduced Battersby to a large group of other young gay men — the type of muny he said he had spent almost all of his teenage years yearng for.
It is a tth universally acknowledged that a gay man posssn of a tequila soda mt be want of a diva beltg out a song way beyond his register.
Not to generalize but, at least the Chelsea gayborhood — where limp-wristed media strategists and their ench bulldogs mgle wh Midtown rat ftatns — this is shouldn’t have e as such a surprise when I saw an Instagram flyer for an event, lled "Backstage Tea, ” at the recently-ish opened club, Motel 23. I sort of figured that some of the same gays I’d partied wh there might also be tired of gettg dnk their rooms while YouTube suggts the same Barbra Streisand "shadit diva moments" pilatns. Bored wls when first opened at the tail-end of New York’s first lockdown September 2020, I’d watched the place grow om a masks-on, s-down cktail bar to the rowdy hotspot that n host Lil Nas X’s SNL afterparty as easily as n acmodate the 3 Dollar Bill gays on nights they ci to wear odorant.