Richard Johnson

Richard Johnson

Celebrity News

Belle Knox inspiring more NYC co-eds to be strippers

Belle Knox, who is paying her tuition at Duke University by working as a porn star, is inspiring New York co-eds to follow in her stilettos.

Since word got out that the petite brunette will perform May 2 at the all-nude Show Palace in Queens, the club has been flooded with applications from would-be teen strippers.

The club’s manager Mike Diaz told me, “We are getting bombarded, five to 10 applicants a day. The Knox story is bringing them in.”

Diaz said Baruch and Brooklyn Colleges are providing the best pole dancers.

The biggest number of rejected applicants have come from Queens College and NYU. “They’re not so good-looking. I don’t know why,” Diaz said. “So far, none have met our standards.”

Columbia parents should be proud. Not even one applicant came from the Ivy League university.

Strip clubs that serve alcohol ban anyone under 21 — strippers and customers alike. Show Palace is one of the only non-alcoholic, all-nude clubs that admits 18- to 21-year-old customers, and hires under-21 dancers. But they must be 18.

“For girls under 21, this is a chance to make some big money, $500 to $1,000 a night,” Diaz said.

Duke helped spur interest in stripping when university spokesman Keith Lawrence said Knox, 18, would face no reprimand.

“There is no restriction in the Duke Community Standard regarding off-campus employment,” Lawrence said. “We are committed to protecting the privacy, safety and security of our students.”

Diaz said: “We are always looking for new dancers.”

Before Knox came along, about 20 percent of the Show Palace dancers were college students. “Now, it’s about 50 percent,” Diaz said. “We’ve hired 30 or 40 new girls.”

The American strippers can thank Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents for creating job openings.

“Lots of Russian dancers were here illegally, but there have been crackdowns,” Diaz said. “We don’t have any Russian girls here now.”