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Parents beware: It would be wise to keep a close eye on your daughters on Sunday. Girls Gone Wild is coming to town.
The California-based GGW empire, known for its tawdry late-night infomercials, where young women pull up their tops and yank down their pants, only to find their bodies plastered nationwide on videos and TV, has scheduled a stop Sunday night at Jax 126, a Jupiter nightclub on Indiantown Road.
Wherever Girls Gone Wild goes, trouble follows - at least in the eyes of mothers and fathers and some law enforcement officials.
"We're definitely aware of it," Jupiter Police Chief Richard Westgate said Friday. "Obviously, we have concerns with any nudity. There will be arrests made as well as possible action against the establishment" if girls do indeed go wild.
The chief said undercover officers will be stationed inside and outside the club. He said club officials told him they will not tolerate nudity.
But that doesn't mean girls can't go wild. Police cannot take any action if the women decide to hop aboard the GGW motor coach, equipped with a full bar, and strip for the cameras, usually for nothing more than a free tank top, hat or drink. In fact, many of the Girls Gone Wild late-night infomercials feature women whipping off their tops inside what appears to be a tour bus.
"There's not a whole lot you can do if they're filming somebody inside a private bus," the chief said.
Girls Gone Wild spokesman Bill Horn vowed to stay within the law. "There is a misconception that we use hidden cameras and that we're a bunch of dirty old men," he said. "In fact, the camera crews are a bunch of polite nice young men who are doing a job and who actually do respect women."
Even though police and parents cringe, clubs love Girls Gone Wild, now on what's called the Girls Gone Wild Rocks America Tour. The idea is that where girls go, boys will follow, wallets and eyes opened wide. Cash registers ring just at the hint of a roomful of women willing to do pretty much anything to get on TV.
Jax is normally closed Sunday night. But it is opening its doors from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. for "a huge Sunday night party" featuring GGW's "exclusive South Florida appearance with full production crew to film the next video." Or so says the club's recorded phone message.
Club owners could not be reached for comment, but online, they describe their club as "a touch of class."
Some of the women featured in the videos come to regret their actions. But even though they have filed lawsuits to halt distribution of their nude flashing, they have failed to stop Girls Gone Wild from its mission: selling millions of videos of young women in various states of dress.
Mantra Films Inc. of Santa Monica, Calif., owned by Joe Francis, 31, of Lake Tahoe, who created the Girls Gone Wild brand, sells $100 million worth of videotapes, DVDs and merchandise a year. The business is expanding to include restaurants, music and a clothing line. It's even shopping a feature film to Hollywood studios.
Law enforcement officials have tried to stop the naked romps as well.
Panama City Beach officials threatened to arrest GGW producers and crew members on sight two years ago during spring break. But all that did was prompt a federal lawsuit by GGW, claiming its First Amendment rights were being sullied. In the end, GGW received a written pledge from city officials that they would not arrest them simply for being within the city limits.
But the city did arrest Francis and members of his crew, and seized Francis' jet, after the mother of a 17-year-old girl complained that her daughter and other underage girls had been persuaded to bare their chests.
Francis, released on $165,000 bond, faces 43 charges, including racketeering, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, selling obscene material and using a child in a sexual performance.
Two low-level defendants have cut deals with prosecutors and reportedly will testify against Francis, who claims he is innocent.
"We're going to maintain that the females who were filmed all lied about their age and that our client had no knowledge of it," said Francis' attorney, Aaron Dyer of Los Angeles. Officials had to return the jet.
Francis, who is frequently seen driving expensive boats and cars in his TV commercials, was unavailable for comment. His reps said he was on vacation or spring break somewhere. But in a December 2003 Los Angeles magazine profile, he professed to have no regrets for making millions by getting women to get naked.
"Girls are doing what they want to," he said. "It's like girls burning their bras in the '70s, you know?"
Staff researcher Lelia Boyd Arnheim contributed to this story.
