Batman, Superman and other superheroes are getting some help from the feds for their caped crusades along Hollywood Boulevard.
US Judge Dean Pregerson on Wednesday blocked the police from cracking down on the costumed characters who perform and pose for pictures for tips along the fabled street.
It may not seem like a traditional form of free speech, but their right to perform is protected under that provision of the US Constitution, Pregerson wrote in the ruling that was welcomed by the performers.
“If cops want to do their job correctly, go find a real criminal,” Michael Jackson impersonator Sean Vezina said on Thursday.
Reports of aggressive panhandling and even fights involving unlicensed street performers led to a crackdown in May and June that led to about two dozen arrests for petty crimes such as blocking the sidewalk.
Since then, some performers said, the police has threatened to arrest them if they didn’t leave — although on any given day Superman, Spider-Man and Capt. Jack Sparrow can still be seen preening and flexing.
“This is a cultural activity,” said Fikret Sahin, 40, a Turkish immigrant who studies music at Los Angeles City College. —AP