[W]orld renowned clown Barry Lubin lured a teenaged aerialist he met after a Circus Smirkus Big Top Tour show 14 years ago into a pornographic photo shoot. Lubin, at the time, was employed by the Big Apple Circus. For the past two summers, Lubin worked as a coach for the Vermont-based nonprofit Circus Smirkus.
Lubin promised the 16-year-old girl work at the Big Apple Circus before he pressured her to make the sexually graphic poses, according to a report from the New York Times published Tuesday. The two exploitive photo sessions happened in 2004, inside Lubin’s trailer near Lincoln Center, the Times reported.
Lubin has longed played “Grandma,” the circus’ marquee star. Over the years, Lubin’s likeness — a klutzy, pearl-clutching clown in a red dress — has graced the covers of coloring books and Big Apple tour posters.
The 65-year-old clown worked as a tour coach for Circus Smirkus during the summers of 2016 and 2017. Circus Smirkus is a nonprofit youth circus based in Greensboro. It runs a Big Top Tour throughout New England every summer, a camp, and school residencies for middle and high school students.
Smirkus officially severed ties with Lubin on Tuesday. He was not employed by Smirkus at the time of the encounters.
Lubin told the New York Times that he pressured Zoey Dunne into posing for photos when she was a minor. Dunne, now 29, told the Times that she met Lubin at a Smirkus show while she was working as a trouper on the Big Top Tour. Lubin was in the audience, attending the show, and met her afterward, according to a Circus Smirkus official. It’s unclear where the show took place.
Dunne said Lubin later invited her to work on the Big Apple’s 2004 New York season. “All I can remember is feeling that it was like this great mentorship opportunity,” Dunne told the Times.
But after Dunne arrived in New York City, Lubin insisted that she model for him. He made her pose, on various occasions, for sexually explicit photo shoots, in which she was asked to take off her clothes and expose her genital area. Before a second session, she told the Times that she vomited. She was paid $100 for each session, the Times reported.
While Lubin made good on his promise to give her circus work, Dunne was shaken by the pornographic photo shoots, and quickly lost confidence in her ability as a performer. She left the circus world a few years later.
In the story published by the Times, Dunne said she was “haunted” by the alleged exploitation. “I just felt really confused and lost and ashamed,” she said.
Dunne recently shared her story with both the Big Apple and Circus Smirkus in letters sent to the two organizations. Circus Smirkus staffers said Dunne’s letter — received last Friday — was the first allegation they had heard against Lubin.
Smirkus staffers said they immediately reached out to Dunne by email after they received her letter. Officials spoke with her by phone on Monday.
Efforts to contact Dunne and Lubin were unsuccessful.
Jennifer Carlo, the newly named executive director of Circus Smirkus, has only been on the job for a few weeks. Carlo said her conversations with veteran staffers gave her confidence that there have been no allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior on Smirkus grounds, nor was Lubin employed by the circus when the pornographic photography session occurred.
“I’ve double-checked with people who have been here 15 or 20 years, and there have been no accusations of any kind of abuse on circus grounds at a Smirkus facility or through a Smirkus program,” Carlo said Wednesday. “That’s really important to note. Mr. Lubin was not in the employ of Circus Smirkus at the time of the allegation, nor did it take place through any kind of circus program.”
On Tuesday, a few hours after the New York Times story broke, Smirkus officials sent a communication to the parents of troupers who had been in Lubin’s presence during the 2016 and 2017 Big Top tours.
“We want to reaffirm our commitment to youth safety and the families who trust us to protect their children, and that is why we are contacting you as the news develops,” reads the email, which was reviewed by VTDigger. “We ask that you share this information with your children as you see fit. Nothing is more important to us than the welfare of the talented young people entrusted to our care, and we will always act to protect them.”
Smirkus staffers pledged to investigate any new allegations that might surface following their email to parents. The nonprofit has a stringent personnel policy, updated annually, that prohibits any adult staffer from ever being alone with a child. The policy applies to the circus’ tour, as well as to the summer camp program run by the organization.
“We do not allow troupers to be alone with staff members,” reads Section 7 of the organization’s employee handbook. “There must always be at least one other trouper or staff member present. This includes meetings, walks away from the public areas of campus, and similar occurrences. In general, we ask staff to be extra cautious about being with troupers due to the sensitive nature of such encounters. Our troupers, even older teens, are children in our care.”
Lubin’s case is not the first time a Circus Smirkus staffer was alleged to have engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior after leaving the organization.
Vladimir Avgoustov, a Russian circus trainer who worked on Circus Smirkus tours from 1991 to 2005 and was named a head coach of the Circus Smirkus Academy in Essex in 2003, was accused of molesting a 7-year-old girl in 2006 while working at the Vermont School of Circus Arts.
The Vermont School of Circus Arts was completely separate from the Smirkus organization and the alleged molestation occurred after Avgoustov left the organization, according to Smirkus officials.
Smirkus received no complaints of sexual misconduct about Avgoustov while he worked for the nonprofit. Smirkus stopped working with Avgoustov sometime in 2005, before the alleged incident with the minor occurred.
