NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A Long Island strip club owner filed a suit against Gov. Andrew Cuomo over his executive orders to close dwon non-essential businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Sean McCarthy run the Blush Gentleman's Club in Commack alleges that Cuomo's orders "constituted a breach of constitutional duty" and have caused him "immediate and irreparable harm and actual and undue hardship," according to the federal lawsuit, filed Saturday by Murray and Peter Crusco in the Eastern District of New York.
"Governor Cuomo is engaged in a huge overstep of executive power," said Joe Murray, an attorney for McCarthy. "He is infringing on people's fundamental civil rights far beyond the least restrictive means allowable under the constitution.
"Someone should remind him he is the governor and not the king," he added.
McCarty alleges that through social distancing and "strict hygiene," he can safely run his business, but the orders 'do not even permit the attempt to do so."
He also filed a suit against the feds and the Small Business Administration for denying his and other strip clubs from the federal coronavirus stimulus bill. r
He is seeking a jury trial and at least $150,000 in damages along with attorneys costs and fees.
According to the filing, McCarthy was denied "the most effective way to continue [his] business and exercise [his] right to free speech," since sex-related businesses are not eligible for loans from the Paycheck Protection Program.
Documents note that "in times of crises such as these, it is particularly discriminatory in that certain businesses will continue and others who deal with subjects the Government does not favor… will be dealt the hand of business death, aces and eights."
"This executive authority was passed by the legislature and, as we were able to bend the curve and upend the models showing even higher hospitalizations and deaths, it was necessary to fight this pandemic," Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi said.
