August 22, 2013
Calvin Klein's Ex Apologizes to Michael Lucas for Fire Island Debacle
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 4 MIN.
Nick Gruber, better known as Calvin Klein's former boy toy, has issued an apology after making headlines on Tuesday for causing a scene at a party on Fire Island last weekend where he upset gay porn entrepreneur Michael Lucas by loudly proclaiming at the largely gay event that he is straight and that gay men can't touch him.
According to Queerty, Gruber emailed an apology to Lucas for crashing the porn icon's VIP tent during Ascension Party.
Dear Michael Lucas:
I am sorry that we had a misunderstanding this past weekend at Fire Island. I did not really understand how a big party like that worked, and when I was asked to leave your part of the party, I definitely overreacted. Please accept my apologies.
I came with my friends Hal Rubenstein and his partner David Nichol, who work on the charity arm of the party (Fund In The Sun), but I didn't understand that people had paid for separate areas. Their fund has donated $750,000 to charities and is an important not-for-profit so I think it's great that you supported them by buying a private area of your own. I hope I didn't spoil anyone's day. It was a fun and unique party and I was glad to be there.
I hope next time we meet we can have a coffee and I can apologize in person.
Sincerely,
Nick Gruber
Lucas, however, isn't impressed with Gruber's apology because the 22-year-old did not mention that he allegedly said he's straight and that gay people can't touch him.
Soon after the incident, Lucas took to Facebook and said Gruber was an "arrogant guy" who said "'Keep your hands away from me! I'm straight!'" Lucas writes he went up to him and Gruber, who apparently said, "'I am straight and I don't want any gay people to touch me!'"
Lucas wrote that he then told him, " 'You're leaving.' He said, 'Do you know who I am?' I had security haul him away. Then someone explained to me that this is the ex boyfriend of Calvin Klein, and he just 'came out' as 'straight.' "
Lucas also spoke with the Huffington Post. "I have no idea why he was there in the first place but some how he made his way into my tent," Lucas told HuffPo. "I've never heard about him, I just witnessed him acting incredibly rude to other people. Also... [he] was very vocal about the fact that he is straight and doesn't want gays ... touching him. And it's not that they were touching him, it's just that it was crowded, so people bumped in to each other. He came to the party to obviously make some statement."
After receiving his email, Lucas wrote back to Gruber and said:
Dear Nick-
Thank you for your apology. However, I fear that you have misunderstood why I was offended. The problem was not that you had mistakenly come to the wrong area of the party (and it doesn't matter to me at all who you came with or how much they donated). Many people knew just as little as you did about how the party was set up, but somehow no one else got into a big argument about it.
The problem was that your behavior was boorish and loudly homophobic. Screaming that you are straight and that you don't want gay men to touch you would be unacceptable in any social situation, much less a crowded gay party. If you are so defensively straight that you truly can't bear the idea of gay people touching you, then maybe a crowded gay party might not be the best place for you. Please feel free to write 'I am straight' on your forehead and stay home. No one will bother you there, and you won't bother anyone back.
Best,
Michael Lucas
Neither Gruber nor his publicist have yet to reply to Lucas' response.
