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Cabbie Claims Couple's Embrace Was "Distracting"

cabpaulbruno1109.jpg It's a game of he said/he said with this story of a gay couple being kicked to the curb by a cabbie. Paul Bruno and his partner were allegedly embracing in Medhat Mohamed's cab Monday night in the East Village, when they say the driver tossed them, declaring: "Hugging is not allowed in here!"

The NY Post tracked down Mohamed, who told them, "I wanted to pay attention to getting them to their destination instead of worrying if they were going to have sex or not. They kept hugging and kissing. He was almost sitting on his lap. And I said, 'OK, guys, come on, I'm driving.'" He claims he gave them the option of staying in the cab if they could keep their hands off each other, but Bruno says this never happened.

Mohamed says he would have taken the same route if it had been a heterosexual couple, and the owner of his taxi medallion told the paper, "in our religion, we can't handle that stuff. There's no kissing allowed in the cab. A man has to be a man."

The Taxi and Limousine Commission is investigating, and the agency head says "the outcome of this process has the potential to be severe for the driver in question, and could very well include the revocation of his TLC license."

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Comments [rss]

  • felixthecatSUX

    I've gotten thrown out of cabs for less. Like, wanting to go to Brooklyn.

  • jsn0828

    While it is despicable if his actions were motivated by intolerance or hate, I do understand to a point. I was once threatened to be kicked out of a cab for a heavy heterosexual makeout session. And while it may be hard for people of any sexual orientation to keep their hands off each other in a cab, anyone who's ever driven a car with rowdy passengers knows how distracting it is. I think this is going to get way more attention than it really deserves.

  • verbal

    Just think back to the posts about cabbies wanting a 'cleanup fee' for passengers that vomit. I'm also reminded of the narrative from "Taxi Driver" when Travis is talking about cleaning up the cum from the backseat after his shift.



    I hate these fucking raghead motherfuckers, but he was probably right, god knows the queens got all riled up at the 'insult' to their right to jack each other off in public. Just go to NYSC and check out the locker rooms to get a sense of their perceived entitlement to public sex.

  • TheKlaus

    When did Nick Kroll start driving cabs?

  • S.K.

    The gay couple should have realized that most of society still views their behavior as wrong.

  • Automocar

    Yeah, that's relevant.

  • militza

    that's ridiculous! there are plenty of guys and girls making out in cabs.

    he just had an issue with the guy on guy action.

  • brooklynmouthoff

    I think what this cabbie meant to say was, "my culture is one of intolerance. I perpetuate that. If you please, next time you see me, punch my lights out. I am an asshole."



    Get back on your oversees bluetooth phone call and ignore your passengers directions like the rest of you.



    I've said it before and I'll say it again. There's a lot of trash out there.

  • robingee

    > "in our religion, we can't handle that stuff. There's no kissing allowed in the cab. A man has to be a man."



    That's your problem, jerk. You're in one of the most liberal cities in the country. If you lived in Nebraska you'd probably be persecuted for your religion.

  • chuzzlewit

    how does someone who doesn't like hugz and kissez get a Tender Loving Care license in the first place?

  • pianoarthur

    Exactly what I was thinking...
    you guys in NYC have a license for TLC?
    Wow, talk about being regulated to death.

  • The cabbie is sexually repressed and scared of his own gay feelings coming out.

  • jimmy

    the question here, and the reason i think jen may be covering this story, is not how many bases did the couple go in the backseat... it's whether the driver's decision to kick them out was based on prejudice with sexual orientation. and based on the quotes in the Post i don't think it's very hard to figure this one out, whether or not he claims he would've done the same with a heterosexual couple.

  • zodak

    "I wanted to pay attention to getting them to their destination instead of worrying if they were going to have sex or not. Because if they were going to, i certainly didn't want to miss it, so i went home & watched some of my gay porn dvds."

  • icedespresso

    If I got kicked out of every cab when I was straddling some guy, I'd never get home.

  • potsmoker

    ive had all kinds of sex in cabs,



    cabbies have seen it all.



    the best cabbies offer you a hit off their joint.



    this cabbie shouldnt be worried about what tehir passengers do, the real pervs are the ones who sit there quietly while giving hand jobs, they all know what it means when a passenger tells the other "im tired let me lay my head on your lap..."







  • Abbott

    This is a bad city for homophobic muslims to be driving cabs. Please show my the TLC policy that bans hugging and kissing in a cab. This is just another cab driver deciding what rules will and will not be followed in his taxi. Personally I'm sick it. You should be able to expect the same set of rules to apply no matter what yellow cab you get in.

  • Ed

    For a cabbie to give up a fare, the passengers must've been doing something more risque than hugging. No driver wants to get jizzed on the back of their heads.

  • militza

    that's true and funny.

    don't want it to shoot out like an uzi.

  • Actually no. If he's this uptight and easily distracted by some hugs and kisses, he'll give up a fare based on anything.

  • hotstepper

    i think the problem is that Mohamed wanted to watch, but..."in our religion, we can't handle that stuff."



    oh temptation, you rascal!

  • Chillinoncentral

    Cab drivers have always had to put up with avoiding bicycles, obeying the traffic laws, stopping for jaywalkers/pedestrians, etc... and they've often had to avoid the excitement caused by horny passengers in their own cabs, lol. Now, add to that, the distractions caused by "gay" lovers in the cab of "religious" drivers! You gotta love it!

  • seven

    Regardless of religion or sexual orientation of the passengers it's a perfectly reasonable request to ask two people in the back of your cab to stop going at it, especially if what the cabbie says is true and one of these dudes was straddling the other one.

  • faprilano

    again, he broke away from his cellphone conversation long enough to focus on this????????

  • Mr Mel

    Why couldn't he just stay on the phone like the other Cabbies.

  • evbo

    Three cheers for organized religion.

  • Guest

    Shut up.

  • evbo

    (Lest I be accused of being anti-gay, that was meant to be a sarcastic comment.)

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