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LI Nursing Home Stripper Was Voted On, Paid For By Residents


By

Lauren Evans

Published Apr 9, 2014

Modified Apr 9, 2014


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85-year-old Bernice Youngblood and "the entertainment."

 


By

Lauren Evans

Published Apr 9, 2014

Modified Apr 9, 2014


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The son of a Long Island nursing home resident—who was subjected to the pelvic gyrations of a scantily-clad male stripper last year—was left red-faced when he learned his mother apparently enjoyed the show.

An attorney for East Neck Nursing and Rehabilitation Center—currently facing a lawsuit from the disgruntled son of Bernice Youngblood, an 86-year-old woman photographed slipping cash into a male stripper's underoos—asserts that the erotic performance was voted on and financed by the facility's resident-composed activities board, and not forced upon unwitting retirees against their will.

“The home has an activities panel of 16 people—residents—who actually voted to have this event,” lawyer Howard Fensterman told the Post. “They welcomed it, and it looks like they had a good time.”

Youngblood's son, Franklin, is not convinced, having unearthed the incriminating photo among his mother's possessions last January. “None of you all would want this to happen to your parents,” her son insisted. “I grabbed this picture, pulled it out—the minute I seen the picture, I just exploded.”

Closer inspection of the photo, however, deflates Franklin's argument considerably: Seated next to the elder Youngblood is Franklin's wife (or girlfriend, according to CBS New York), June Legister—and she appears to be enjoying the festivities almost as much as Youngblood. "If Mr. Youngblood wants to sue anybody, he should be suing his own wife,” said Howard Fensterman, the center's attorney.

Legister insists the expression on her face was not one of enjoyment. “That was not a smile,” she told CBS. “It was not a smile.”

Perhaps the most embarrassing thing to Ms. Youngblood, who suffers from partial dementia, is being trotted out for the news cameras by her son. “I felt terrible,” she told reporters on Tuesday. “I was shaking and going on and he told me what to do.”

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