Gay Reporter Hassled by Castro Theatre Manager Receives No Justice From SFPD

By Coburn Palmer Thu., Oct. 25 2012 at 1:43 PM

Dicks tend to piss people off

The local reporter who recently got into a heated dispute with the manager of the Castro Theatre while interviewing a group of naked dudes in the street is getting no sympathy from the cops.

Readers might recall the strange incident in which the Castro Theatre manager, Keith Arnold, cock-blocked a journalist as he was trying to video and interview local nudists outside the iconic theater.

See also: Castro Theatre Manager Freaks Out on Public Nudists, Journalist

Mike Skiff, a journalist with Third Rail Media, posted this video of the dispute between himself and the movie house manager last month.

As you will see, Skiff, who was wearing a press badge at the time and therefore didn't legally need a permit, had his camera struck repeatedly by the clipboard-wielding Arnold, who was obviously perturbed by the scene of naked men outside the theater. "I'm tolerant of kids not having cocks in their faces," a clearly pissed-off Arnold said to the camera.

Skiff wasn't injured, but he said he's not happy that his rights as a reporter were violated. He filed a police report, accusing Arnold of assault. "If this had been an incident of domestic violence and one spouse was hitting another spouse it would have been dealt with more seriously," Skiff told SF Weekly. "I don't get this violence against journalists."

Skiff, who also claims he was assaulted during a Proposition 8 demonstration, said he's disturbed by what he thinks is a growing trend of people beating up on journalists.

"Everybody's assumed to be paparazzi," said Skiff, who notes that being hassled by the Castro Theatre manager is "ironic" since he's gay. "It's like an art gallery owner coming out and attacking a street artist."

Arnold was fired up about the public nudists who were also exercising their constitutional rights that day, Skiff says. The group of naked men, including former San Francisco mayoral candidate George Davis, were celebrating Park(ing) Day by turning a parking space on Castro Street into a park for one day.

Skiff says the cops recently informed him that they've decided not to file charges against Arnold, because, according to the SFPD, there was no injury, thus battery did not occur. Plus, the camera wasn't even damaged, the cops say.

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Tags:

Castro Theatre, free speech, Keith Arnold, Mike Skiff, naked men, nudist, parking day, press, public nudists

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simondelao

What The FUCK? First of all the police do NOT "file charges", the D.A. does. Secondly, section 242 of the penal code is a misdemeanor so unless the police officer actually witnessed the battery, he could not make an arrest. PC. 242 includes "unwanted touching". That being said, the reporter had every right under section 837 of the Penal Code to make a private person's arrest right then and there. If the reporter placed the theater owner under a private person's arrest and the officer refused to accept the arrest, then there would be a cause for bitching about the cops and you would have a story. I hate cops but I hate ugly old white men swinging their 2" cocks in public even worse.

ben09 topcommenter

What has the reporter's sexuality got to do with *anything*?

"It's like an art gallery owner coming out and attacking a street artist", if that street artist is being a douchebag, yeah, what's ironic about that?

ranger

i support the castro theater. i love that place. i don't go there anymore though because i don't want to run into those annoying naked guys. one could also run up and down castro street waving a swastika flag and say it's not hurting anyone and that it's an issue of free speech. isn't it better if we just try to get along? why did mike skiff have to be so confrontational with the manager of the castro. everyone that lives in the castro would rather have the castro theater than the naked guys. trust me.