Real-Life Inspiration Behind Hustlers Is Speaking Up for Dancers 'Stiffed' by Strip Club Owners

Hustlers, if anything, has brought the voices of sex workers into the mainstream more than any other movie in recent memory. Especially for the women who the film was based on—like Rosie Keo, the inspiration behind Constance Wu’s character. She claims that Show Palace, a filming location, didn’t protect its own dancers by asking for enough compensation from producers. TMZ reports:

Show Palace is taking tons of flak for turning its back on its strippers when “Hustlers” rented out the establishment for a week of filming — effectively cutting off their cash flow — and Rosie says the least owners could do was scrap the house fee dancers pay when they were allowed back for work. The way Rosie sees it … Show Palace management needs people who know how to hustle, like the girls working the poles and VIP sections.

Unlike other real-life analogs from the film, however, Rosie Keo has no ill-will for Wu or the film. (Samantha Barbash, portrayed by J Lo, torched the film for its “unrealistic” depiction of her life.) Regardless, exotic dancers and sex workers across the country are currently fighting for rights to protect themselves against the unfair treatment they often face at the hands of club owners. Hopefully, through this, the dancers at Show Palace get the pay they deserve. (UNIONIZE!) [TMZ]

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People often forget that when you reach a certain echelon of power and wealth in America, it’s more than likely you’ll be photographed hanging out with someone whose politics (at least publicly) “differ” from yours. Ellen Degeneres and George W. Bush hanging out at the Cowboys game last night is an excellent example of this! The two were seen with their wives in a private suite, “smiling and chatting.”

While it would be more than easy to roast DeGeneres for such an outright show of centrism, I’m sure she’s not the only one who would have made polite conversation with the man! Even if he was the architect of the longest war in this country history, who helped to dismantle our rights to privacy and fuel xenophobic hatred towards immigrants and the innocent civilians he bombed overseas. (Don’t even get me started on the billionaires he bailed out!) Anyways, I wonder if they talked about his paintings? He wrote in his 2017 that “It consumed me.” This story, undoubtedly, will consume me too. [People]

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• Luann De Lesseps might be back with her ex. [Page Six]
• Whitney Port disguised an Excedrin ad as a story about her son. [People]
• Where in the world is Kylie Jenner’s $3 million Bugatti. [Us Weekly]
• Does Teresa Giudice really think Joe Giudice’s deportation is a “blessing in disguise”?????? [Hollywood Life]
• Kaitlynn Carter ate a pizza. [The Blast]