These questions have never been inquired of a specific nearly-naked white man street performer.
Cuomo told NY1 that their actions were "prohibited" and "must be stopped." He praised the Daily News because of their diligent reporting on this "serious problem."

De Blasio commented, "it is wrong" and "I don't like the scenario in Times Square, and we are going to address it in a quite competitive manner." Last week, De Blasio assembled a task force "to subdue topless people."
family nude oops are seemingly such a "disaster" that Mayor de Blasio and police commissioner William Bratton have talked about tearing up the pedestrian plaza as a potential "alternative." The town has real criminals and murderers, but we have to tear up a plaza (the same plaza that is been credited with a 35% decrease in pedestrian injuries) and reconstruct the roads because of a few panhandlers' PAINTED BOOBS?

We spotted two painted girls walking around and shooting pictures with tourists and onlookers. They were accompanied by at least two men who were doing paint touch-ups and looking after their stuff. It was all quite orderly and tame.
We saw moms shooting pictures of the kids happily shows off with the girls. We also saw grinning couples taking turns for pictures. People were smiling and handing over cash for tips, which were graciously accepted.
A mother takes a picture of her young kid with the painted breasts of a desnudas girl in Times Square NYC
There has been a lot of rumor about the men who paint the desnudas. In the tabloids they have been depicted as "pimps" manipulating the ladies to do all the work while they gather the cash. The NYPD apparently thought there could be some truth to this, as they shot in 10 women for questioning last Wednesday and temporarily confiscated their clothing and belongings, according to reports online. Authorities wanted to understand if they were being compelled or coerced into panhandling for the men.
The answer is, no, they truly are not. In an interview on Gothamist, among the desnudas explained how this "pimp" narrative is bogus. She said, "We're all there of our own accordThe majority of us work for ourselves."
read of the guys they work with do seemingly get a percentage of their daily earnings, but she highlighted that it was an even profit share. (She makes a number of great points in this interview, but sadly stops it with insulting comments about "ghetto fat women.")
We saw the desnudas occasionally hand over wads of cash for their male buddies. But we did not see anything that implied an exploitative or non-consensual partnership.
We also briefly spoke to among the painter guys, Chris Olivieri, about the recent uproar. He was detained last week because of outstanding warrants. He told us that him and his comrades were among the first to paint girls and accumulate hints for it in Times Square beginning in 2013. He said they did not previously have any issues with police or the Times Square Alliance for doing this topless "artwork," but spoke of his recent arrest. https://s3.amazonaws.com/ola-naturist/nudism-porn.html described a scene of 10 policemen showing as much as arrest him, after which he spent 2 days in jail.
He told us there were other groups (largely individuals from overseas) of topfree painted women who've come in to make a quick buck and who engage in aggressive tactics.
Competitive panhandling aside, what these girls are doing is completely legal. Panhandling is shielded by the First Amendment and it's legal for girls to go topfree in public. Both rights were created by the Court of Appeals, NY's highest state court, in 1992.