Holly Van Voast likes to go topless. She's done it in public (where it is legal!) and she's done it in court (where it is less so!), she did it at a Russell Simmons reading at Barnes & Noble and recently she did it on a D train from 205th Street in the Bronx all the way down to Columbus Circle. Ever wonder what would happen if a 45-year-old woman in good health took off her top, put on a fake moustache and went for a train ride during rush hour? Wonder no more!
The video (which is NSFW if your bosses don't like nipples) is a bit long but it is edifying. People (including Russell Simmons at the 6 minute mark) really don't know what to make of Van Voast. When the train is finally brought to a halt at Columbus Circle "because of an unruly passenger" (a.k.a. Van Voast) and cops get involved you get angry commuters yelling at her for messing up their days, tons of cameraphones (including one woman who tapes it "to prove this wasn't my fault") and big smiles from the jaded straphangers who've seen it all before. Good times, though some of the looks earlier in the tape are pretty priceless too!
In the end (in case you don't have time to watch the whole thing) Van Voast is removed from the train by the police and taken to the Columbus Circle police precinct...but since she wasn't doing anything illegal they had to let her go (though they did insist she put a top on before she left). Because, let's all be clear here, it is not illegal to take your top off.
