Cover girls: Pay per view!
Beggars want cash for front-page nudes
The bird-flipping Times Square desnuda featured on the front page of Monday’s Post took a break from hawking her wares to read about herself — while whining about not getting paid for the photo.
“The reporter is instigation! Takes pictures, pictures, pictures — thousand pictures, no pay!” the cheeky woman grumbled Monday.
One of her fellow street hustlers, a man in a Donald Trump getup, had handed her a copy of the paper.
The Post on Monday revealed how desnudas and the army of costumed creeps in Times Square routinely stray from their designated zones — with limited enforcement by the NYPD.
That remained the case throughout the day, as the characters physically and verbally assaulted New Yorkers and tourists alike.
Three Minnie Mouses and a Hulk routinely stepped out of the city’s so-called Designated Activity Zones, or DAZs, on Broadway between West 46th and West 47th streets to snatch people’s phones out of their hands. They then surround their startled victims, took quick photos — and insisted on getting a tip.
“I felt trapped,’’ said New Yorker Marie Menella, 57. “They took my phone and they took a picture.”
The worst of the disturbing behavior occurred before cops started milling about in late morning. Still, the Naked Cowgirl stepped out of a DAZ to solicit tourists and collect tips in front of a group of officers — without being stopped.
“I don’t stay in the designated area,” she boasted. “The cops are so afraid of giving summonses because you can sue them.”
It was only after she stepped out of the DAZ a second time — with a Post reporter watching — that a cop finally told her, “Stay on the green!’’ referring to the zone’s painted pavement.
An NYPD sergeant said his officers can’t do anything about the costumed characters leaving the DAZs to “perform.’’ The panhandlers only have to stay in the areas when they accept money, he said.
But the Times Square Alliance insisted city regulations prohibit the characters from even soliciting outside the DAZs.
The NYPD did not respond to requests for comment.
According to NYPD statistics, there were 36 arrests involving the Times Square characters the year before the zones were established, from June 2015 to June 2016. The year after the zones were put in place, arrests dropped to eight.