Setting the record straight: The Q nightclub owner speaks out

In the latest legal fallout over the now-shuttered LGBTQ nightclub The Q, the bar’s former creative director and his attorney are on the defense over defamation and other claims against the club and its owner, Robert “Bob” Fluet.

The legal battle dates back to a controversy that emerged just a little under a year after The Q hosted a splashy opening on Pride weekend in June of 2021. The club was the talk of the town.

Fluet’s vision for the nightclub was to bring the LGBTQ community together for one big party nightly.

“I was very proud. I was very excited,” Fluet said. “I brought in people I thought could help me in this community to really, really push it.”

But that vision wouldn’t last. Its former creative director, Frankie Sharp, sued the ownership of The Q and made accusations against Fluet and The Q’s former executive producer, Allan Pikus (who also goes by Alan Picus), in two different controversial complaints that were publicized in the press and on social media in June 2022. Sharp accused Picus of sexual misconduct with patrons in front of employees, as well as racism, sexism, and discrimination, among other accusations. The nightclub also faced underage drinking complaints. 

Fluet’s other business partners, who remain unidentified, were not named in the lawsuit.

New York Supreme Court Judge Suzanne J. Adams threw out all four of Sharp’s allegations against Pikus and Fluet in April 2023. 

Now, however, Fluet’s attorney, Thomas D. Shanahan, PC, has motioned to remove attorney Joseph Dempsey as the lawyer for Sharp, alleging conflicts of interest in a memorandum of law filed with the court on August 23, according to court documents obtained by Gay City News. Shanahan gave Sharp 30 days from the motion’s file date to find new legal representation. Shanahan also represented Pikus.

Dempsey and Sharp did not respond to a request for comment from Gay City News.

Following a series of court wins last year and this summer, Fluet felt it was time to tell his side of the story. Shanahan and Fluet spoke with Gay City News in a recent interview. Shanahan, who is openly gay, was honored with a Gay City News Impact Award in 2022.

Fluet, a 61-year-old gay man who is a contractor by day and a nightclub owner by night, said he was “very disappointed” by Sharp’s lawsuit and the closure of the Q.

“I was really taken aback by it,” said Fluet, who has been a leader in New York City’s gay nightlife scene for 15 years. In criticizing Sharp’s lawsuit, Fluet said the allegations spread in the media and on social media. 

“The reality is nothing has been even proven,” Fluet said. “Other than Frankie, we’ve not been accused by any other people of this.”

Untangling a knot of lies

Utilizing the Freedom of Information Law, Shanahan said he checked relevant agencies for evidence that would have indicated whether there were any racist, biased, or discriminatory complaints against The Q and Fluet that were congruent with Sharp’s allegations. But nothing came of it, he said.

“There’s no record” of investigations, Shanahan said. “I don’t know how you prove that these are truthful when there’s no objective evidence that supports claims you’re making.”

According to court documents, Dempsey and Sharp continue denying Shanahan’s claims of defamation against Fluet, but the court is increasingly siding with Fluet and Shanahan. In 2023, a ruling from Judge Adams put Dempsey and Sharp on the defense. Fluet and Shanahan provided “alleged sufficient facts” that supported their counterclaims of defamation by Sharp and Dempsey with the intent of “actual malice” and “caused damage to defendant,” according to court documents.

On the defense

Dempsey has since been named as a third-party defendant in the case, which deemed him a “lawyer as a witness” to illegal actions. He also continues to push six affirmative defenses that were rejected by the court twice. He admitted to failing to minimize damages in the case in court documents. These are only a few reasons why Shanahan claimed a conflict of interest and moved to have Dempsey removed as Sharp’s attorney on August 23, according to court documents.

“Clearly, Mr. Dempsey continuing to assert flawed legal theories on behalf of Plaintiff [Sharp] as he faces a trial involving millions of dollars in damages presents an obvious conflict of interest,” Shanahan wrote in the memorandum.

Furthermore, New York’s top politicians continued to come to Fluet to attend and host fundraisers, Fluet and Shanahan added. On Oct. 31 of 2021, a fundraiser at The Q for out Manhattan Councilmember Erik Bottcher brought out Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Congressmember Jerry Nadler, Mayor Eric Adams, and other political and community leaders.

“They wanted to do it there because it was such a highly regarded venue,” Shanahan said. “It was an amazing event. The place was packed. Every leader in our community was there.”

Shanahan added: “If there was even a hint or a whisper that any of Mr. Sharp’s allegations were true, it would not be a place that anyone in the community would want to host events, especially political and other leaders in our community.”

The accusations, he insisted, were “completely inconsistent with the reality of the situation as it existed.”

Yet, Fluet, a father of three who has been with his husband for 30 years, said he couldn’t tell New York City’s LGBTQ community his side of the story for more than two years.

“It had to play out in court,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sharp and Dempsey allegedly took their accusations of underage drinking to Fluet’s other bars, Boxers and Hush, specifically at Hush, according to documents filed with the court.

“They attack those locations with the plan on coming to us, which they did, and say, ‘Okay, now that we’ve done this much damage, let’s settle,’” Fluet said. “[It was] purely a money play.”

Among other developments, Judge Adams dismissed Dempsey’s Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, known as a SLAP suit, claiming it was an “employment dispute” between private entities, not a matter of public interest. 

Shanahan unearthed alleged actions taken by Dempsey and Sharp to harm Fluet’s bars. Shanahan pointed to a list Dempsey referred to as “The Consolidated List” of alleged illegal acts made by Fluet that occurred at his businesses. He noted Dempsey and Sharp attending neighborhood associations disparaging Fluet and The Q. He also pointed to what he described as Sharp and Dempsey’s ongoing actions engaging “in a social media and tabloid press campaign to defame the movants and enhance the settlement value of their claims.” Shanahan claimed Dempesy and Sharp continued to defame Fluet and The Q after they amended their complaint on October 14, 2022.

“[He had] one intention, which was to ensure to destroy the business and the people who worked there,” Fluet said. “[The LGBTQ community] was purposely weaponized for [Sharp’s] monetary gain.”

Sharp did not ultimately damage Boxers and Hush, though. Many people in the LGBTQ community didn’t know Fluet owned those bars too and directed their friends away from The Q to Boxers and Hush, Fluet and Shanahan said. Bar Fluid, LLC, owned by Fluet and his business partners, is the parent company of Boxers, Hush, and formerly The Q.

“I was very disappointed that we couldn’t allow this venue to continue, and today the community will talk about it and feel sad that it was closed,” Fluet said about The Q.

Fluet estimated the nightclub employed around 40 staff members and hired an estimated 100 entertainers, such as drag artists and DJs.

“We spent almost a million dollars a year just on talent,” and spent months and hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to keep The Q open to save the staff and talent, he said. “That was all literally wiped away from our community.”

A glittery nightmare

As COVID-19 continued to rage in 2021, The Q was a bright spot in New York City’s sequestered queer nightlife. The much-anticipated Hell’s Kitchen queer nightclub was blessed with the backing of gay celebrities, such as Billy Porter, and high-profile gay investors and patrons from Hollywood to Wall Street.

However, The Q was also tragically linked to the May 2022 murder of out gay Republican political consultant John Umberger, 33, and the disappearance of first-year City University of New York law student Jordan Taylor in January 2023, Gay City News reported.

Individuals who were members of a gang ring that terrorized New York City’s nightlife scene from 2021 to 2022 were arrested and charged with the murders, robberies, and other charges tied to the deaths of Umberger and another young gay man, Julio Ramirez, 25.

Gay City News reported the three men — Jaykwan Hamilton, Jacob Barroso, and Robert Demaio — and two other suspected acquaintances in the gang ring pled not guilty in 2023. Another suspect, Eddie Ashley, pled guilty to grand larceny, robbery, and identity theft charges in October 2023.

Taylor was later found dead and his brother, Alton “Al” Taylor, posted the news on Black and Missing, Inc.’s Facebook page on March 11, 2023. His death remains a mystery.

The Q closed on March 27, 2023.

Fluet said he felt a mixture of emotions, from relief to disappointment, when The Q closed. In the end, “it was extremely disappointing,” he said, because it was the community that he aimed to serve that “tore me down.”

Sharp’s nightlife venture also went belly up. W42ST reported Sharp opened Frankie’s Pub ahead of Pride weekend in June 2023. It closed five months later in November 2023.