Notorious late-night Manhattan hangout for athletes shut down by authorities: Report

A pair of notorious Manhattan nightclubs favored by many famous athletes — and the location of a rash of violent incidents involving them — has been closed by the City of New York.

Troubled Soho celebrity hot spots Greenhouse and W.i.P. were raided by cops and shut down over the weekend — and they may never reopen, sources told The New York Post.

The Varick Street nightclubs were closed down by the police early Saturday for having too many customers and blasting music above the legal limit, the sources said.

A day later, a sign outside the club claimed it was closed for renovations, with no indication of when the doors would reopen.

The sister clubs made headlines eight days ago when a Greenhouse brawl that broke out between some University of South Carolina football players and a club promoter ended with one of the players stabbed and the promoter’s face smashed.

The violence erupted at around 3 a.m. April 11 in the VIP room, where a group that included some NFL prospects from South Carolina objected to another group allegedly smoking pot, sources said.

Sources said cops want to question defensive tackle Kelcy Quarles and cornerback Victor Hampton — who are expected to be snapped up at next month’s NFL draft — about the assault.

They have not been charged.

The most high profile incident involving an athlete happened upstairs at W.i.P.  when a 2012 fight sparked by a feud between musicians Drake and Chris Brown allegedly over singer Rihanna turned into a bottle-throwing melee.

San Antonio Spurs star Tony Parker suffered a serious injury to his eye after innocently getting caught in the crossfire before suing the owners.

A judge shut both sites down for 10 days after that brawl.

Well guys, there's still the 40/40 Club. Just avoid the allure of Rihanna.

Spurs' Tony Parker under fire for alleged 'Nazi' gesture: Report

San Antonio Spurs star guard Tony Parker came under fire on Sunday for his alleged use of an anti-Semitic gesture described as a “reverse” Nazi salute. Parker was asked by the Simon Wiesenthal Center to apologize.

French media outlets published a photo taken earlier this year of the French-born Parker doing the “quenelle,” as it is known, at the side of Dieudonne, a comedian and accused anti-Semite who coined the gesture, according to The Algemeiner, a New York-based newspaper that covers Jewish and Israel-related topics. 

“It’s the Nazi salute in reverse,” Roger Cukierman, leader of the French partner of the World Jewish Congress, told Reuters.

Parker was photographed pointing his right arm down and laying his left hand near his right shoulder to make the gesture.

Quenelle de Tony Parker ! #Dieudonné #Anelka pic.twitter.com/U8hkaVOm0U” a ouais il est fière celui la en plus” 💔🏀”
— tweeterman (@martin76130) December 28, 2013

The Parker news came a day after French soccer star Nicolas Anelka was blasted for his use of the same gesture following his goal for West Bromwich Albion in Saturday’s 3-3 draw at West Ham in the English Premier League

Tony Parker uses Chris Brown-Frank Ocean fight as evidence in lawsuit

Tony Parker is using singer Chris Brown's fight with Frank Ocean as evidence in his $20 million lawsuit filed against the owners of a Manhattan nightclub where the San Antonio Spurs star injured his eye during a bottle-throwing brawl last summer.

TMZ reports that Parker has filed new legal documents in his lawsuit against the nightclub W.i.P. — the site of a reported dust-up between Brown and his fellow rapper Drake's posses.   During the wild melee, a shard of flying glass went flying into the NBA star's left eye.

After a possible career-ending scare, the Spurs guard had to wear protective goggles while playing for the France team in the London Olympics because of the injury.

Parker is suing the management of Entertainment Enterprises, Ltd. for the millions claiming they should have never let Brown into the celebrity hangout.

Parker is now using Brown's alleged volatile temper as evidence in the lawsuit, citing the January 27th Brown-Ocean parking lot altercation outside a Los Angeles recording studio.

The misdemeanor battery charges against Brown were dropped when Ocean decided not to press charges.

According to TMZ, Parker claims the reported Brown-Ocean fight proves that Brown is, "unfit to socialize in places where he's likely to fly off the handle."  His lawyers believe there is enough evidence to prove Brown should have been denied entry the night of the W.i.P. brawl — which allegedly started over the sultry singer Rihanna.

Brown is still on probation for his 2009 assault on Rihanna.

Club DJs still torturing Kris Humphries with Kanye rhymes

It's bad enough that Kris Humphries has to endure the the Barclays Center boo-birds but now the Nets forward's ears are being bombarded by the rap of Kanye West every time he enters a nightclub to unwind.

Club deejays seem to enjoy torturing Humphries with the vocal stylings of his ex-wife Kim Kardashian's new paramour and it's apparently affecting his game —off the court.

Humphries' futility with the ladies was witnessed Wednesday night at the Manhattan hotspot WiP — you might remember it as the place Tony Parker almost lost an eye during the infamous Drake-Chris Brown brawl — where he went after the New York Knicks blew out the Nets at Madison Square Garden.

Humphries was chatting up some women and trying to score a few digits while an uninterrupted stream of West's music blared throughout the club, said a source.

"He was trying to talk to every girl in there and was getting turned down by every girl he spoke to," an eyewitness told the New York Daily News' Confidential.

The source said the two deejays, Chuck Barrett and Scram Jones, piled on the Kanye beats and by the time they played "Mercy" and "Clique," Humphries had had enough.

"He took a bottle of Patron that he didn't pay for, put it in front of his crotch and dumped the entire thing on the floor, because he was wasted and tired of Kanye songs," said the witness.  "Not only was he acting like he was peeing the bottle out, he insisted on staying."

The wear and tear of an NBA season must be nothing compared to the travails of a 72-day marriage to Kardashian and the drawn-out divorce they are still embroiled in but still, not worth pissing away a good bottle of tequila.

Last month, reports Confidential, Humphries tried to pick up DJ Kalkutta, after another Nets loss, while she was spinning a West tune — now that's sad.

"He emailed a couple of times," said the vinyl spinner. "But I never answered."

Sadder yet.

A season with the Kardashians, a mid-season Nets collapse and an unending loop of Kanye.  Can't this poor guy get a break.

Tony Parker wears protective goggles in game vs. Spain

The Miami Heat might have made big-framed, black eyeglasses all the rage during the NBA Finals, but Tony Parker is wearing his new eyewear for reasons other than fashion.

The San Antonio Spurs guard suffered a scratched cornea during a nightclub brawl between R&B stars Drake and Chris Brown on June 14.  Now Parker will wear the black Bolle goggles to protect his eyes as the French team prepares for the London Games.

Resembling a miniature version of a goggled Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Parker looked like he was back to form after concern if the eye injury would jeopardize his chance at playing in the Olympics— or even derail his career.  The Spurs' team doctors cleared the point guard to play and he scored 11 points in 30 minutes in a friendly against Spain Sunday.

Last month, the 30-year old Parker filed a $20 million lawsuit against the Manhattan club W.i.P. —where the wild bottle-throwing melee broke out.

While Parker wore his frames in a game against Spain, the French team still lost, 75-70.

France opens its Olympic basketball competition against the U.S. squad on July 29.

You never know, the French star may bring the Horace Grant look back in vogue.

Tony Parker cleared for Olympics after eye injury from club melee

San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker has been given clearance to play for France in the Olympic Games after the the NBA team's doctors agreed that he has recovered from an eye injury suffered as a bystander in a Manhattan nightclub bottle-tossing brawl.

Parker scratched his left cornea during the wild fight and has been wearing special eyeglasses since the June 17 incident.

"The ophthalmologists (from the Spurs) confirmed the opinion of the French doctor who operated on Tony Parker, and the two Swiss specialists also examined the player last Thursday, and indicated that he can resume playing playing," the French Basketball Federation said on Friday, adding that Spurs coach Gregg Popovich also gave his blessing.

Parker is joining the French team in Orleans and he could play in a tuneup against England on Saturday.

France's first game at the Olympics is against the United States on July 29.

"It is great news and a relief for the whole French team," said coach Vincent Collet.  "I spoke with Tony on the phone and he sounded very happy— and also releived— about his development.  It was a difficult and alarming situation for everyone."

Parker was included on the team's 12-man roster even as he waited to see if he would be cleared to play.  The French team is already without the services of Joakim Noah who will miss the Olympics because of an ankle injury.

Parker was hit by flying glass after a brawl broke out at the Soho nightclub W.i.P. between members of rappers Chris Brown and Drake's entourages. Parker has said he was sitting with his friend Brown when the trouble started.  Six other people were hurt in the early morning fight.

Parker has filed a $20 million lawsuit against the operators of the club.

Tony Parker sues for injury in Chris Brown-Drake brawl

NBA star Tony Parker— who was injured in a free-for-all bottle-throwing melee at a Manhattan nightclub— has filed a $20 million lawsuit against the club operators for negligence in security and supervision.

The San Antonio Spurs guard got caught in the middle of rap stars Drake and Chris Brown's brawl— provoked by their love-triangle relationship with singer Rihanna— at the Soho hot spot W.i.P last week.  The object of their affection was not at the club that night.

In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Parker holds W.i.P.'s owners responsible for the "corneal laceration of the left eye and other injuries" he suffered at the scene where seven others— including Brown and his girlfriend— were injured.  The club has since been shut down.

Parker's lawyer, David  Jaroslawicz, blamed the club for knowingly allowing the two men, who have both dated the singer, into the club and creating a volatile atmosphere.

"The defendants were reckless, careless and negligent in permitting Drake's and Brown's entourage to be in the same club at the same time despite knowing the tension between the two," the filing says.

"She's been known, like Helen of Troy, to cause trouble," said Jaroslawicz about Rihanna.

Neither Brown or Drake were named in the suit but blame each other for instigating the Trojan War.


Jaroslawicz said selling booze with bottle service is like "throwing gasoline on the flames."

The suit says Parker wasn't sitting with either side but has said he was "with my friend Chris Brown" when the fight began.

"Me and my friends took some punches," said Parker.  "They started throwing bottles everywhere."

Parker was preparing to play with the French team at the London Games this summer but said he'll be sidelined for a week as his eye heals with the aid of a "therapeutic" contact lens.

"I'll be missing the the start of the French team because I can't do anything for a week except keep the lens in and then take drops," he said.

Spurs' Tony Parker was injured in Chris Brown-Drake bar brawl

Tony Parker might have more than one reason to wish his San Antonio Spurs team was still in the NBA playoffs.  The NBA star was in the wrong place at the wrong time early Thursday morning when he suffered a scratched retina on one of his eyes during the bottle-hurling brawl at a New York City nightclub involving rappers Chris Brown and Drake— reportedly over the singer Rihanna.

Parker , wearing dark glasses, described the incident Friday in Paris during a news conference posted on YouTube.  He said he expects to be sidelined about a week while the French Olympic team prepares for the London Games.

The Spurs' guard said he was wearing a "therapeutic" contact lens and had to go to an emergency room after arriving in Paris.

The French basketball star described the melee and aftermath: "I was with my friend Chris Brown and me and my friends took some punches, so I'll be missing the start of the French team because I can't do anything for a week except keep the lens in and then take drops."

Those relatively quiet nights banging elbows against the Oklahoma City Thunder probably don't seem so bad now.  The Spurs were knocked out of the playoffs by the Thunder 4-2 last week.

The fight turned into a bottle-tossing free-for-all and police said Brown, his girlfriend and his bodyguard were among several people injured in the fight at the Soho club.

Parker said, "They started throwing bottles everywhere.  I don't know what happened.  At first it was OK, but then it started getting worse and when the plane landed it was really hurting so I went straight to the ER."

The glass and bottle-throwing was so bad, a NYC council member is looking to curb "bottle service" at all city clubs and bars.

The San Antonio Spurs declined comment.

Parker is used to making the gossip pages with his ex-wife, actress Eva Longoria, but I'm sure he never hoped he'd be making headlines linking him to Rihanna in this scenario.

SEE YOUTUBE VIDEO (Warning: It's in French)