Philly Naked Bike Ride cuts ties with nude Rocket Cat Café promoter

The Philly Naked Bike Ride has reportedly cut ties with a promoter who passed out fliers at Rocket Cat Café in the nude on Friday following a public apology from the Fishtown coffee shop.

PNBR's Vallente Romasanta tells Philadelphia magazine that the organization has asked that promoter Tom Dimitriou, a former PNBR co-organizer, "stop his association" with the event:

"PNBR deeply apologizes for the events that took place at Rocket Cat Café. We apologize for not having done our due diligence to understand the intent and means of promotion that were going to take place," said Romasanta. "The actions that took place are not in line with our Code of Conduct and we apologize for the disturbance and offense that were caused by this individual's actions and response. For this reason, we have asked him to stop his association with PNBR. We do not condone or plan on holding this type of promotion in the future."

Dimitriou, for his part, didn't seem to understand the uproar over his in-the-buff promotion, telling PhillyMag Monday that "I had permission from the owner" and "this thing about consent is an affront to our civil liberties."

Some Rocket Cat Café customers — including Yelp reviewer Sarah Grey, who captured Dimitriou's promotion in photos — said that the promotion served to "inflict naked creepers on you and your children without warning or consent."

Rocket Cat owner Karen Breese, meanwhile, said Monday that the promotion "did not go as hoped."

[PhillyMag]