San Antonio fire chief faces probe after posing with naked woman serving body sushi at birthday party
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: San Antonio fire chief Charles Hood who has come under fire for reportedly posing with a naked woman covered in sushi at a birthday party issued an apology after the questionable picture was published in the San Antonio Express-News on Thursday, October 22. In a statement, he said: “I attended a firefighter’s 50th birthday party in January. This photo was taken at the front entrance to the party. I certainly didn’t intend to offend anyone, and if I did, I sincerely apologize.”
The photo showed Hood kneeling down beside the woman, who was lying on a flower-decked table without wearing any clothes. Her body was covered in sushi. Speaking of the picture, Hood, who became fire chief three years ago, said the picture was taken at “more or less a family event”. “You walk in the front door and there’s a sushi lady there that I guess is a business, so I stopped and posed and take a picture. That’s it. It would be like me taking a picture with a flamenco dancer in Vegas or a Spurs dancer at Top Golf where the Spurs dancers happen to be there,” he added.
As reported by Express-News, the birthday was of Shody Henshaw, a firefighter who has struggled with colon cancer for years. Henshaw held the party at his Canyon Lake home and said the celebration was “a beautiful, classy party.” He also said no one touched the naked woman and they did not eat sushi off her body. Henshaw added that they were served sushi by a kimono-wearing server. “They were trying to honor the Japanese culture,” he explained.
Reports have stated that body sushi, or nyotaimori, is a part of Japanese practice in which the dish is served on a woman’s nude body. But in the past years, the practice has been criticized for being objectionable and old-fashioned. After the photo created an uproar, City Manager Erik Walsh said the officials were looking into the matter. “I have directed the City Attorney to conduct an independent review of all the facts and circumstances involving the photograph and the event. This is a serious issue and I’ll take whatever action is warranted. We all have to be aware that our actions outside of the workplace – good, bad or otherwise – reflect on our entire organization,” Walsh added.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg also showed his support towards the probe and said, “I am supportive of the investigation and independent review and issue the appropriate discipline at that time, but that photo is clearly counter to what we expect from the values of this organization.”
In another bizarre incident, a woman stripped naked and ran around the length of a street before climbing on the top of a police car. According to reports, the unidentified woman in Spain was flouting coronavirus lockdown rules. Initially, she was wearing clothes but when the police approached to take her into custody, she started to strip. She was taken to the court while she was naked head to toe. The woman was granted bail the same day and to celebrate her freedom, she climbed on the top of the police vehicle. To get her in control, cops hit her with a truncheon before taking her to an ambulance which was waiting at the scene.