Acrobat Sam Panda Detained by Police for Violating 'the Thong Ordinance' on Myrtle Beach

TMZ - Aerial performer Sam Panda got detained by Myrtle Beach police for her revealing swimsuit, and she had to have a long thong debate to get released.

Sam says "some Karen" called the cops on her for her bikini, and the video starts with her being walked away in cuffs as she and her friend ask for clarification.

The cops actually busted out their law book and claimed Sam was violating an ordinance about being nude on a public beach, and one officer equated her thong bikini to nudity.

Sam objected, and after pointing out that her private parts were all covered up, the cops called for backup. Yes, they needed backup ... over the exposed backside.

For the record, this is the law they brought her in for ... being in public in "a state of dress or undress so as to expose to the view of others specified anatomical areas" ... in this case, her butt.

According to the MB police ... the initial call was a report of 2 women "who were wearing thong bikinis and a see-through top that were dancing and soliciting videos on the beach."

Cops say Sam tried to walk away, which is why she was detained, but after the ordinance was explained ... the ladies agreed to cover up and were released without charges.

If you're not familiar with Sam Panda's work as an acrobat, here are a couple of examples:

And while I can appreciate the need for ordinances regulating bathing suits on a public, non-nude beach, can we at least make allowances for people like her? She's not just some ordinary sunbather. She's a pole athlete. It's her profession - dare I say, her life's calling - to look good with very little on. This isn't some dad-bodded, hairy-backed slob with a massive belly hanging over his European bikini briefs that are so small you can tell if he's got a cobra or an anteater in there. We've all seen that guy and he's a thousand times more offensive to look at than Ms. Panda's undercheek. 

Besides, who's to say how much butt is too much butt? It's totally subjective. The ultimate eye-of-the-beholder issue. You can't apply a universal standard, that you enforce the same whether it's Kendall Jenner or Mother Teresa (God rest her soul). It's not like a Catholic school saying your skirt can't be higher than your fingertips or something. We can't have the Myrtle Beach PD running around with tape measures or doing trigonometry to determine the surface area of the back panel as a percentage of the overall surface area of the ass.That's a slippery slope. It begins like that. And eventually we're living in a "Handmaid's Tale" dystopia instead of a land of liberty where you're free to show it if you've got it. 

So, with all due respect to the cops who were given the unfortunate duty of enforcing this draconian law just to satisfy some moralizing buttinski, to hell with the Karen who dropped a dime on Sam Panda. If our aerial performers aren't free to show some cheek, none of us can truly be free.