South Side club closes following "lewd" viral video

Viral video of a lewd act performed in a South Side nightclub has led the owners to close up shop, while a local judge is calling for a general state of emergency in the surrounding neighborhood. Both have given statements tying the incident to a broader uptick in violent crime, but some local commentators are calling this narrative into question.

On July 12, a video circulated of a person performing what has been deemed a "lewd" act during a party in the rooftop pool area of the adjacent Foxtail/Skybar nightclubs. Pittsburgh City Paper found the NSFW video, which depicts a woman having liquor poured into her genitals, still posted on Instagram.

The video has received attention nationwide, with websites like The Daily Beast calling it "a truly horrific vagina stunt."

According to a statement posted by management on July 13, the sister clubs have been shut down until further notice following the incident.

"After careful consideration, the owners of Foxtail/Skybar have decided to pause operations at the venue until further notice," the statement reads. "The climate for operating a nighttime economy business in the South Side has regressed to the point of being unstable and has led to a customer base that is problematic. We will continue to support Mayor Gainey and the Public Safety Department’s South Side Safety Initiative Plan. We look forward to rejoining the community once a solution to the issues plaguing our neighborhood has been successfully implemented."

Others are questioning this messaging, which they say makes an unfair connection and hints at racism due to the fact that the subjects in the video are Black.

"has led to a customer base that is problematic."

I remember the Southside. It was always problematic. But it was alright cuz it was all white... pic.twitter.com/RNY2iK8MSl

— Deezy Season (@BraceyDuJour) July 12, 2022

Day Bracey, a prominent figure in Pittsburgh's craft brewing scene, posted several tweets where he suggests the race of the woman in the video influenced the unprecedented blowback.

"A lewd video surfaced of Black people in their establishment," Bracey tweeted. "This is a statement addressed to their preferred customer base, and the larger racist community that is the Southside..."

Other critics, including anti-violence activist and organizer William Marshall, took issue with the statement's reference to a "problematic" customer base.

"From hosting club events throughout the City, what I do know is that when White Club Owners can milk money off that Problematic Black Customer Base they will let anything go," Marshall posted on Facebook.

Local magistrate Eugene Ricciardi has also waded into the fracas, calling on local officials, including Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, to declare a state of emergency in the South Side to bring in state troopers and beef up local law enforcement, according to reports by WPXI and other sources.

“That is an embarrassment," Ricciardi told WPXI. "That video went viral across the United States. We have people in Florida that saw that video, what does that say about us,” says Ricciardi.

On July 13, Triblive reported that Pittsburgh police launched an investigation into the video, but Mayor Gainey's office tells City Paper they don't plan to issue a state of emergency because of the incident.

"While we are thankful that Judge Ricciardi is looking for ways to support our work in the South Side, we are not and do not plan to issue a 'state of crime emergency,'" reads a statement from the mayor's office.
The mayor's office points out that they declared a state of emergency following the collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge, which included the ability to "waive certain budgetary rules, expedite other government processes and facilitate partnership with other levels of government when needed to coordinate a response," adding that "these tools are helpful in certain types of emergency situations, but we don't presently believe they are necessary to address the situation on the South Side."

Foxtail/Skybar, two clubs owned and operated by the AMPD Group, has come under fire for several previous incidents. In 2019, police were called to Foxtail after a brawl broke out in the club. KDKA and other news outlets released a video of the incident taken by a Foxtail patron, which showed a large group of people throwing punches as onlookers yelled and screamed.

AMPD, which, in addition to Foxtail/Skybar, owns Social House 7, Local Bar and Kitchen, Scarpino, and various other bars and clubs, has also become the subject of a lawsuit over alleged employee abuses. Lynch Carpenter, a national consumer rights law firm with offices in Pittsburgh and New Castle, Pa., has AMPD listed on its website as one of several representative cases where employees have been "denied proper wages and overtime pay, who have been misclassified as independent contractors, or are subjected to an illegal payroll practice."

City Paper reached out to Lynch Carpenter for more details on the case but has yet to hear back.

Last month, Gainey took a walk around South Side to assess the local feeling in response to spiraling crime and violence, and has since released a Carson Street Safety Plan which includes adding plain clothes detectives around late-night gathering spots, enforcing codes around late-night food vending and sidewalk cafes, and working with bar managers and bouncers on de-escalation practices, according to the mayor's office.

"We also want to make this clear to everyone in Pittsburgh — we recognize the unique challenges that the South Side has, which is why we have put in place our multipronged approach of law enforcement, code enforcement, and fire enforcement to help us meet those challenges," says a statement from the mayor's office, "but we believe — and our data shows us this, that the South Side is a safe place for everyone and we are committed to continue working with residents and business owners to keep it safe for all.