NYC’s Naked Cowboy Menaced by Unhinged Creep Days After Times Square Killing

When you think about New York City, you picture honking taxis, neon billboards and, for many tourists, a skinny‑legged man in tight jeans strumming a guitar while barely covering himself with a pair of briefs. That man is the Naked Cowboy, real name Robert Burck, who has been a fixture at the corner of Broadway and 42nd Street for nearly three decades.

On Thursday, just a few blocks away from the blood‑soaked scene that shocked the city on Monday, Burck found himself in the middle of another unsettling episode. A video released to the Post shows a disheveled figure – shorts, a hoodie, a backpack – lurching toward the performer, waving a bright scarf as if it were a whip.

“He was swinging that thing like a towel,” Burck recalled, a nervous chuckle slipping in. “It was close enough that I could feel it brushing my face.” The stranger shouted insults, calling the cowboy “no gangster,” and even dared him to “get your pills,” according to onlookers captured on smartphones.

For a full thirty minutes the man trailed Burck from one block to the next, hurling curses and waving that scarf with an almost theatrical ferocity. By the time the police finally arrived, the crowd that had gathered to watch turned into a murmuring audience, some filming, others just shaking their heads.

Burck, now 55, admitted his heart was pounding. “I was thinking, ‘He hasn’t hit me yet, but this is getting too close,’” he said. “It took me a while to catch my breath.” In an effort to steady himself, the cowboy launched into a familiar love ballad – the very same songs he’s performed for tourists since the ’90s – as if the music could keep the tension at bay.

His nerves were understandably on edge after Monday’s tragic double stabbing in Times Square, which claimed the life of 32‑year‑old Bank of America executive and new mother Erin Piacenti. “You never really feel safe,” Burck said, “especially when something so violent happens right on your doorstep. Most people won’t hurt you, but you can’t help wondering, ‘what if?’”

When asked whether he ever considered defending himself physically, Burck hesitated. “I thought about it, but I’m not a fighter,” he answered, shaking his head. “I just keep playing. It’s what I know.”

The incident, while unsettling, didn’t end with any arrests, and the mysterious harasser vanished as quickly as he had appeared. City officials reminded the public that New York remains a bustling, sometimes unpredictable place, but that police are monitoring any reports of suspicious behavior, especially in the wake of recent violence.

For now, the Naked Cowboy is back on the corner, guitar in hand, wearing his signature briefs and a grin that masks the tremor in his boots. He says he’s grateful for the support of passersby and hopes that the city’s rhythm will soon return to a steadier beat.