{"id":338859,"date":"2026-09-05T15:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T15:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/338859\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T15:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T15:50:09","slug":"nycs-naked-cowboy-menaced-by-creep-days-after-times-square-killing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/338859\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC’s Naked Cowboy menaced by creep days after Times Square killing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Where\u2019s a lasso when you need one?<\/p>\n

The Naked Cowboy was menaced by an unhinged creep just days after a fatal Times Square stabbing just blocks away.<\/p>\n

Video obtained by The Post<\/a> reveals a deranged man \u2014 and definitely no country music fan \u2014 harassing the beloved Big Apple fixture, lunging and cursing at the cowboy crooner for 30 minutes and following him from block to block as he tried to escape on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe\u00a0Naked Cowboy, nee Robert Burck, admitted that he\u2019s on edge after Monday\u2019s fatal stabbings in Times Square, his home base of 27 years. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just hope they don\u2019t kill ya,\u201d the Naked Cowboy<\/a>, whose name is Robert Burck, told The Post after the unnerving encounter. \u201cI\u2019m shaking in my boots but acting calm.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man hounded the 55-year-old, barely-dressed Burck, brandishing a scarf \u201clike it\u2019s a whip \u2026 like you do with a shower towel,\u201d Burck said, \u201ctaunting me by whipping it as close to my face and body as he could.\u201d<\/p>\n

A bystander could be heard shouting, \u201cGet your pills\u201d to the agitator, who badgered the legendary street performer as onlookers mostly gawked and filmed.<\/p>\n

The disheveled man wearing shorts, a jacket and backpack, spewed insults \u2014 \u201cYou ain\u2019t no gangster.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole time, I\u2019m thinking, \u2018He didn\u2019t hit me yet,\u2019 but it got real close. Your heart is beating,\u201d said the city\u2019s beloved cowboy, who\u2019s been strumming his guitar for 27 years at the Crossroads of the World.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took a half hour to regulate my breathing,\u201d he admitted, adding that he deliberately belted out love ballads to calm the tense situation. \u201cWhen you\u2019re scared, you do the things you gotta do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AThe skimpy strutter told The Post that he was \u201ctaunted\u201d by a foul-mouth menace who followed the beloved street performer for 30 minutes as onlookers gawked and filmed the unsettling incident. Provided to the New York Post<\/p>\n

After being shaken up over Monday\u2019s devastating double stabbing<\/a> that left 32-year-old Bank of America exec and new mom Erin Piacenti dead, Burck said he\u2019s not taking any chances.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people are not going to harm ya. But obviously with the stabbing and all of that, you think anything can happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn light of the circumstances that someone was just killed by a deranged person, I was thinking, \u2018is it justifiable to hit him?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But even after Monday\u2019s deadly attack, Burck tried not to dwell on disaster scenarios.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re always vulnerable in New York,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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