*Warning: PIRATE RADIO presentation*
The Chelsea nightclub that Michael Strahan helped start will soon get a chance to explain why it’s looking a lot like a strip joint.
The State Liquor Authority is ordering operators of the seven-month-old Leonora — in which the “Live With Kelly and Michael” co-host was a founding owner — to attend a May 13 hearing where they'll be asked to explain why there was, allegedly, topless dancing there on March 19.
According to a summons obtained by Confidenti@l, “the licensee suffered or permitted the licensed premises to become disorderly by suffering or permitting lewd and indecent conduct and/or lewd and indecent performances and/or exhibitions,” which could cost the Leonora its liquor license. The complaint lists “topless entertainment/lap dancing” on a short list of violations that could spell big trouble for the club.
“All of the investors are concerned that the investments will be wiped out by this,” said Michael Bregman, a financier whose name appears on the club’s operating licenses. Bregman says he received a copy of the summons last week and doesn’t know what to expect next.
“I’m not experienced in this world, but that’s a pretty scary piece of mail,” Bregman tells us.
A club rep says the boldface shareholders have nothing to worry about, as the partygoers who allegedly flashed their assets weren’t in any way affiliated with the venue.
“We’ve been summonsed twice — once for overcrowding outside when word got out that Kanye West was inside (also in March) and for this,” says the rep, who aims to have the “minor” charges dismissed at the hearing. The rep adds that the Leonora was rented out for a private event on March 19, and if the striptease occurred, it was an isolated event the investors would know nothing about.
“New Kids on the Block” singer Joey McIntyre, former MTV VJ Simon Rexand detective- turned-Fox News contributor Bo Dietl are also listed as investors in the West Side party palace.
After our call to the club, a Leonora lawyer reached out to tell us Strahan was no longer involved in the club, but declined to elaborate on when or why he cut ties. The sudden severance came as a surprise to Bregman and other investors, who’d heard no such news. Club sources confirmed to Confidenti@l as recently as last month that Strahan was still an owner.
Celebs who’ve darkened the Leonora’s doorway include Keanu Reeves, Shia LaBeouf and Ice-T, who hosted a birthday party there for his wife, Coco.
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