The male strippers who caused a major stir in Belfast last weekend, have said that mobile phones will be banned at future events.
This comes after videos of the male strippers who performed at the Devenish entertainment venue in Belfast last weekend, went viral showing nude male dancers and female attendees mimicking sex acts.
Audience members were also filmed dancing on stage with the naked performers, with genitalia on full display. This footage quickly went viral, causing major outrage.
In one case, a nude stripper was spotted walking around busy tables and dancing, before returning to the stage, pouring lotion over his body and wiping it off with a union flag.
Both the police and Belfast City Council will be carrying out their own investigations of this incident, with the council responsible for entertainment licencing.
The strippers were performing at the Pleasure Boys event Valentine's Day special, one of their XXL Tour dates. They have since confirmed that filming on mobile phones will be banned at future shows.
"extreme"
Despite the controversy surrounding this performance in Belfast last weekend, John Woodward who manages the UK based Pleasure Boys, insisted that they are still inundated with queries about performing gigs in Ireland.
“It’s getting that big now that we are looking at maybe even a mini-Irish tour throughout the whole of Ireland", Woodward told the Irish Indo Daily podcast.
He also said that the reaction witnessed in Belfast was unprecedented.
“I think the show was a little more extreme than what our average show would be, but I definitely think that in Ireland in general people are not quite used to the type of show we have,” he stated. “You’ve got your own male strippers there in Ireland, but they don’t do the type of things that we do".
Mr Woodward also told the podcast that footage of their performances was never shared online before, insisting that they will now make sure that they “protect people that come to the show”.
“If I was going to an event, I wouldn’t particularly want to be blasted all over social media, especially if I was the lady that lay down on the stage, for instance, and then the guy is hovering over you. You’re not going to want your family to see that and your friends to see that", he also added.
He also added, “So this is why we’re also now starting to introduce a ban on mobile phones filming the show itself, because then at least whatever happens at the event – not that it’s going to happen again – but if things happen at the event, it’s not going to go viral and these people are not going to be seen on social media".
The manager also said that security at their performances would be subject to a review, adding that events had "escalated" in Belfast.
He said, “What happened here on Saturday evening is people were excited, they got out of their seats, they were dancing around and the guys reacted to that".
Mr Woodward also insisted that no sexual acts took place during the three hour show.