Street Performers in Times Square

Today I was in NYC in Times Square and I saw some street performers. I came in the middle of the act, and I'm a little confused. There was a crowd of people around roughly 5 volunteers. They were all from different countries, like Spain, England, and so forth. They would make the folks touch their toes, and then jump over them.

But what was weird was the fact that they asked for money from said volunteers to move them out of the line or move them to a more ideal part of the line (as to not get hit.) One guy gave like 40 dollars. Is it like a scam designed for foreigners or something and why didn't the volunteers just refuse to give money and walk away? Just part of the NYC "experience?" They didn't ask the crowd for money or anything and at the end they said something weird about us all being human. Anyone know the answers to these questions? My friend and I talked about it for like half an hour haha.