Officer's appearance on Queer Eye questioned then OK'd

Chalk up another convert for the Fab 5. A police officer with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who went on TV for a makeover courtesy of Bravo channel's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, isn't in trouble with his bosses after all. "Our police superintendent watched the show and enjoyed it thoroughly," Pasquale di Fulco, a spokesman for the Port Authority, said Thursday. Officer John Verdi, 29, appeared on Queer Eye in hopes of changing his image with the help of the show's five gay consultants. While touring his Staten Island apartment, style gurus Thom Filicia and Carson Kressley tried on Verdi's uniform shirt. The New York Daily News reported Thursday that Port Authority officials said Verdi had not received clearance to reveal his identity as a police officer on a TV show and that he shouldn't have allowed a civilian to wear his uniform. But Di Fulco said it's OK with the Port Authority for its cops to be stylish when they are off the clock: "The officer did this on his own time. We have no issue with this." On the episode the Fab 5 took Verdi to a salon for a pedicure, had his pale feet spray-tanned, and taught him how to cook a quiche for his vegetarian girlfriend. "It was good entertainment," Port Authority Police Benevolent Association president Gus Danese told the News. "What he did, he did on his own time. He didn't portray the Port Authority in a bad light. It was harmless." The episode is scheduled to be re-aired on NBC on Thursday at 10 p.m.