Owner of Hip Gay Nightclub ‘Motel 23’ Denies Sexual Misconduct Accusations
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The owner of hip gay night club Motel 23, Michael J. Cohen, denies accusations of sexual misconduct by an NBC News story.
The NBC News investigation claims claims Cohen “groped or pressured men to have sex or send nude photos, as well as a claim of sexual assault — over the past decade.
Since July, when an anonymous Instagram account began posting allegations about Motel 23, NBC News has spoken to 45 people who said they knew or interacted with Cohen in New York or Los Angeles over the past two decades. Nine of the men accused Cohen, 45, of unwanted sexual conduct. This included five who said that when they were in their late teens or early 20s and yearning for a sense of gay community, Cohen grabbed their genitals or buttocks at parties he hosted or at Motel 23.
Six of the nine accusers said that because they were newly out of the closet and didn’t know many queer people when the encounters occurred, they presumed that the incidents were normal within the gay community, even though they were upset by them at the time.
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In a written response to emailed questions, his spokesperson Alafair Hall wrote: “Mr. Cohen absolutely denies allegations that he groped, sexually assaulted, forcibly kissed or demanded sex from anyone.” Hall added: “In his years of hosting parties, Mr. Cohen has never engaged in any sexual activity that was not unmistakably consensual. He takes these allegations seriously.”
In seven of the nine cases, NBC News talked to witnesses, partners or friends who said the men had told them of the encounters afterward. Three of the nine men provided screenshots of private conversations they had on social media with Cohen in which Cohen repeatedly asked the men to have sex with him or asked for explicit photos, the screenshots show.
None of the men, who were adults at the time of the allegations, went to the police. Cohen’s parties often had celebrity guests, such as Olympic diver Tom Daley, actor Neil Patrick Harris, and musician Lil Nas X. All declined to comment to NBC.
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Hall described Cohen as “a proud gay man with no shame about his activity on social media, where he has asked adult men to send him sexual pictures, including those of their genitals. But he has never pressured men to have sex.”
Cohen, the majority owner of Motel 23, has connections to high-profile members of the LGBTQ community in New York and beyond. He opened the bar with financial support from four influential investors: Bryan Singer, the blockbuster filmmaker who separately has been accused of decades of sexual misconduct, which he denies; Jeff Davis, the Hollywood writer and producer who is best known for creating the television series Criminal Minds and Teen Wolf; Anthony Watson, a banking executive and a former board member of the LGBTQ media advocacy group GLAAD; and the financier Adam Press, a former board member of the queer advocacy organization Freedom to Marry.
Paperwork submitted to the state in December 2021 shows that Press is no longer an investor in Motel 23. A representative for Watson provided NBC News paperwork dated November 2021 showing that he sold his stake in Motel 23 to Cohen, though that change is not yet reflected in state documents, a representative for the State Liquor Authority said this week. Spokespeople for Watson, Press and Singer declined to comment; an agent for Davis did not respond to requests for comment.
There is no indication that they knew about the allegations of misconduct against Cohen and Motel 23 reported by NBC News.
Allegations about Cohen’s behavior circulating among New York’s gay men erupted into public view in early July, when dozens of allegations about Motel 23 were posted on an anonymous Instagram account.
The man behind the account, “mymotel23reality,” who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he went to Motel 23 for the first time in June. At the door, the man, who said he had never met Cohen before and does not frequent New York’s gay nightlife scene, said that Cohen was going to let him in for free, but charge his friend, who is Black, $250 for admission.
“You’re going to want to let us in for free or else I will shut down your club,” the man, who is white, recalled saying to Cohen.
He recalled Cohen replying, “I’d like to see you try.”
Two weeks later, the man created “mymotel23reality.” Within days, he had received a flood of messages with allegations, he said.
The anonymous claims posted by the account collectively allege that Motel 23’s owner turned gay parties and bars, which some see as queer safe spaces, into toxic environments where young men were subjected to unwanted sexual advances. (NBC News has not verified the claims made on the anonymous Instagram account, which does not mention Cohen, or anyone else, by name.)
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Above: Cohen with the actor and comedian Daniel Franzese in Park City, Utah, in January 2004.Mychal Watts / WireImage for Sundance Film Festival
Cohen has over a decade experience working in New York nightlife says the NBC story, beginning in 2007 when he began hosting a party at the popular East Village gay bar The Phoenix. Prior to that he ran MJC Entertainment, a talent management company whose most prominent client was the actor and comedian Daniel Franzese, who is best known for his role as Damian in the film Mean Girls.
