{"id":333660,"date":"2026-08-31T09:11:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T09:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/333660\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T09:11:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T09:11:43","slug":"hochul-kevin-bacon-tout-admin-axing-law-requiring-license-to-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/333660\/","title":{"rendered":"Hochul, Kevin Bacon tout admin axing law requiring license to dance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gov. Hochul has a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.silive.com\/ny-state\/2026\/08\/ny-just-made-it-legal-to-dance-in-bars-and-restaurants-without-special-permission.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">message for New York<\/a>: Let\u2019s dance!<\/p>\n<p>The 68-year-old governor Friday touted the state\u2019s rollback of a regulation that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amny.com\/entertainment\/new-york-dancing-bars-eliminates-outdated-rule\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">required restaurants or bars to obtain special permission<\/a> to allow any form of dancing on their premises.<\/p>\n<p>She even got Kevin Bacon of \u201cFootloose\u201d fame to join her in a Twitter <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/GovKathyHochul\/status\/2093387350424305900\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">video celebrating the red tape-cutting move.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cDancing? Banned? In New York?! Not anymore,\u201d Hochul said. \u201cThanks to my administration, you can now cut loose, footloose and kick off your Sunday shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Dancing? Banned? In New York?!<\/p>\n<p>Not anymore.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to my administration, you can now cut loose, footloose and kick off your Sunday shoes.<\/p>\n<p>But don&#8217;t just take my word for it\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Xp6WujxIHl\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/Xp6WujxIHl<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/GovKathyHochul\/status\/2093387350424305900?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">August 28, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bacon plays straight man in the 41-second spot capped off by him <a href=\"https:\/\/spectrumlocalnews.com\/nys\/central-ny\/politics\/2026\/05\/28\/hochul-loosens-restrictions-on-dancing-at-n-y--establishments\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">reprising his famous moves<\/a> from the popular 1984 flick in an unidentified bar.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I was to come into this club and say, salsa?\u201d Bacon asks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNada,\u201d Hochul replies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMacarena?\u201d he continues. \u201cMaca-no no,\u201d she answers.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"Kevin Bacon dances to mark the lifting of rules that required restaurants or bars to obtain special permission to allow dancing on their premises. (Office of the Governor via X)\" width=\"5333\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Kevin-Bacon-dances.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"9204378\" \/>Kevin Bacon dances to mark the lifting of rules that required restaurants or bars to obtain special permission to allow dancing on their premises. (Office of the Governor via X)<\/p>\n<p>Hochul was trumpeting a decision by the New York State Liquor Authority to no longer require license applicants to disclose<a href=\"https:\/\/politicsny.com\/2026\/08\/28\/new-york-bumps-restrictions-on-dancing-in-bars-shimmies-into-modern-policy-by-eliminating-outdated-rule\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> whether they will permit patrons to dance<\/a> and will not consider that issue in licensing decisions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve eliminated outdated restrictions on dancing in bars and restaurants to uplift our local businesses and give New Yorkers more opportunities to take advantage of all the great entertainment opportunities we have to offer,\u201d she said in an official statement.<\/p>\n<p>The video may be somewhat cringe-worthy but Hochul aides often promote her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/2021\/08\/21\/always-aiming-high-friends-family-fellow-pols-recall-incoming-ny-governor-kathy-hochul-as-determined-folksy-and-fierce\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">upstate folksy style as a big part of her electoral appeal,<\/a> along with her focus on everyday issues that some politicians ignore.<\/p>\n<p>Hochul holds a <a href=\"https:\/\/spectrumlocalnews.com\/nys\/central-ny\/politics\/2026\/08\/12\/siena-poll--hochul-s-lead-over-blakeman-narrows-as-voters-weigh-housing--affordability-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">healthy lead in polls over Republican Bruce Blakeman<\/a> as she vies for a second full term in Albany. She was ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo\u2019s lieutenant governor and took\u00a0 over when he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/2021\/08\/10\/new-york-gov-cuomo-resigns-in-wake-of-damning-sexual-harassment-accusations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">resigned in disgrace<\/a> in 2020 amid sex harassment allegations, which he denies.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Hochul has a message for New York: Let\u2019s dance! The 68-year-old governor Friday touted the state\u2019s rollback&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[8075,128,13531,125467,426,124991,9,24,63,56376,821,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-333660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bars","tag-bronx","tag-dancing","tag-footloose","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-kevin-bacon","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-red-tape","tag-restaurants","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}