Q-Seattle Events: Tacky Tourist Clubs

The New York Fire Department (which, of course, is known as "FDNY" rather than the other initials which could be pronounced as a not-encouraging word) has cancelled a fundraising effort that last year raised over $150,000 for the department.

It's all the fault of "a series of gay blogs" according to news reports. Those blogs were atwitter last week when a non-profit foundation released its annual calendar featuring FDNY firefighters posing shirtless, but innocently for the cameras.

The calendar itself wasn't the problem. Instead, what "embarrassed" department officials was an unrelated video that made the rounds on the blogs showing the chosen cover boy for this year's calendar in a more far more revealing, but still quite innocent interaction with the all-female crew making the first "Guys Gone Wild" DVD.

The New York Post has fun with its description of the clip:

The embarrassing video of 22-year-old firefighter Michael Biserta of Brooklyn's Ladder Co. 131 and his enormous member is featured in the 2004 Joe Francis-produced DVD "Guys Gone Wild."

The video clip began to circulate when Biserta appeared on the 2008 calendar that went on sale Tuesday.

In the clip, the female camera operators goad Biserta to show them his fire pole.

When they ask him to dance for them or get up on the bed, he refuses, but does agree to get in the hotel room's shower in the nude.

Biserta also, we should point out, reluctantly agrees to show that his "fire pole" will fit all the way around his wrist as a kind of bracelet after a good-natured, feeble protest that "you girls are a bad influence on me."

"This -- this," says an only slightly embarrassed Biserta in the clip, "is the craziest thing I've ever done."

We think it's even a stretch to call the video "salacious" as the New York Daily News does in its story.

The FDNY was caught off-guard by the DVD, which came to light after the latest firefighter calendar was printed and the shirtless firemen appeared on NBC's "Today" show.

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta responded to the salacious developments by prohibiting city firefighters from ever posing for the charity calendar, which is published by the FDNY Fire Foundation.

But please, judge for yourself. The site and the page aren't anywhere close to safe-for-work, but it's only fair to direct you to PornForPatric's post about the calendar that includes (if you wait long enough for the inevitable server delay) the video clip in question. Fleshbot also linked, but apparently lost access their version of the video clip. They do, however, offer several stills. Andy Towle linked to those posts an others on his widely read news blog, Towleroad.

That was all, apparently, a bit too much for FDNY officials, but we don't understand how exactly any of this should be embarrassing to the department.

In fact, at least one of his fellow firefighters seems to be similarly non-offended, according to the Daily News

One of Biserta's fellow Bravest at the Lorraine Ave. firehouse was amused by his colleague's lewd past.

"Nice," the firefighter said, flashing a thumbs-up.

Labels: blog-on-blog, link bites, shirtless hunk