Golf club’s tournament featuring strippers canceled
A strip-club sponsored golf tournament planned for this weekend at President Donald Trump’s Doral resort has been canceled amid a backlash against the event that featured dancers as caddies who could be reserved.
The Trump Organization released a statement Wednesday night that the event would no longer take place Saturday at Trump National Doral Miami because the nonprofit beneficiary had backed out.
“The event was originally booked with the understanding that it would be raising money to support a local charity benefiting underprivileged children,” a company statement read. “Now that the charity has removed its affiliation, the event will no longer be taking place at our property and all amounts paid will be refunded.”
Trump announced before becoming president he was turning over operations of his family businesses to his sons.
Shadow Cabaret, the Hialeahbased strip club planning the event, issued its own statement Wednesday night announcing it canceled the event because of “the climate” surrounding the tournament.
“We want to apologize to anyone that may have been offended by the tournament,” the announcement stated. “Our intention was to raise money for a deserving local charity.”
Earlier in the day, Carlos Alamilla, director of the nonprofit group Miami All Stars, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel he didn’t know Shadow Cabaret had organized the tournament until it became a national news story.
His organization was listed on promotional materials, but Alamilla said he was removing his organization’s affiliation with the event. The group provides afterschool basketball and tutoring to about 40 children, he said.
“Obviously, sex and children don’t jibe,” Alamilla said. “We have never been involved with any of that at all.”
The Washington Post broke the story Tuesday that Shadow Cabaret was putting on a charity golf tournament complete with dancers that golfers could reserve as “caddy girls.”
Emanuele Mancuso, the strip club’s marketing director, told The Post the dancers were to be clothed at the resort, but a “very tasteful” burlesque show was going to be held afterward at the cabaret.
Reached Wednesday morning by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Mancuso said the event had nothing to do with politics and had been taken out of context.
“It’s a nonpolitical event,” he said. “We are not doing an event with any Trump organization. It is a private event. We have rented the venue.”
The strip club’s advertisement featured the Trump family crest. A
company spokeswoman told The Post the Trump Organization had not approved the advertisement before it was published.
In addition to the Doral club, Trump also has a golf club in West Palm Beach.
Prices for the Doral tournament spanned from $450 to $1,000 for a “play and stay” package that included a two-night stay at the resort, “1⁄2 hour VIP room” and bottle at the club.
Mancuso told The Post the event was going to benefit a basketball-themed charity called Miami All Stars.
Alamilla said he made a “verbal agreement” with a marketer representing the “Shadow Club” to receive a donation after the tournament, but he didn’t realize at the time the caller was representing a strip club.
In a statement to The Post, the NBA said it never authorized its logos to be used in the advertisement.
Miami All Stars describes itself as “a non-profit organization under the laws of the State of Florida” aimed at promoting basketball and providing fitness and leadership skills to the youth.
The state has no record of the Miami All Stars being registered as a charity, said Franco Ripple, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
The organization has 21 days to register with the state, or it could face enforcement actions, he said.
Alamilla said he never got around to filing the paperwork to receive tax-exempt status. The Florida Department of State lists Miami All Stars as an active not-forprofit corporation.
Shadow Cabaret has locations in Hialeah and Pompano Beach, according to its website.
The Hialeah location features a “Scarface room, a classic touch of Miami style with a private shower, wet bar and portraits of Tony Montana,” the website states.
In its statement, Shadow Cabaret vowed to continue looking for opportunities to partner with other charities in the future and “give back to the community.”