The Las Vegas Strip is teeming with Spidermen, Elmos and Elvis Presleys of all waistlines.
Nevada's woeful economy has inspired dozens of jobless and underemployed men and women to dress up like celebrities, movie characters and cartoon heroes in pursuit of a buck.
In the past year, fat and fit Elvises, as well as would-be Homer Simpsons, Mad Hatters, and Batmen, have set up shop on bustling sidewalks across this city of vice and excess, offering tourists the chance to pose for a snapshot with someone who kind of looks famous.
Women's Dresses- 4 Style Dresses Certain to Cause you to Appear Hot.
The gratuity-driven performances have created tension between Las Vegas' mighty gambling industry and free-speech advocates who defend the constitutional rights of adults in spandex pants, rainbow wigs and foam muscles.
Casino titans, and government officials who understand where their tax revenue comes from, have eyed the street performers with alarm and, at times, called in police intervention. The Venetian on the Las Vegas Strip allegedly detained a man dressed like Zorro last year after he posed for a tourist's camera on a public sidewalk bordering the hotel-casino. More recently, the city council relaxed its restrictions on street performers because of legal threats.
"Sometimes the mentality is what's good for the casinos is what's good for Las Vegas, and there is a tendency to forget we are in the United States," said Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union in Nevada. "The Constitution protects expressive activity."
Lichtenstein is representing Zorro, legally known as Jason Perez-Morciglio, in a lawsuit against the Venetian. The lawsuit contends Perez-Morciglio was walking in his Zorro garb across Las Vegas Boulevard last year when a passer-by asked for a picture with him and to hold his sword.
Commentaires