Naked Trump mania is taking over the country, as sculptures showing the GOP nominee in all his glory have popped up in Los Angeles and New York.
While the L.A. version on Hollywood Blvd. in Los Feliz still stands proud, his counterpart in NYC’s Union Square was sadly removed Thursday afternoon by the city’s parks authority, which added a subtle jab at the outspoken billionaire.
“NYC Parks stands firmly against any unpermitted erection in city parks, no matter how small,” the statement said, quite possibly referring to Trump’s tiny penis in the artists’ rendition.
According to the Washington Post, the statues are the work of an art collective known as INDECLINE, which calls the collection, “The Emperor Has No Balls.”
The group was partly inspired by “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” the short story by Hans Christian Andersen about a leader who was promised a fine suit that could only be seen by the wise. The emperor then paraded around the town naked, and everyone pretended to be able to see the suit until a child cried out that the man was naked.
The collective is now using the classic tale as an apt analogy for the current state of the presidential race.
“Like it or not, Trump is a larger-than-life figure in world culture at the moment,” a spokesman for INDECLINE told the Post. “Looking back in history, that’s how those figures were memorialized and idolized in their time — with statues.”
L.A.’s Trump was removed from Hollywood Blvd. by city crews but then rescued by the proprietor of Wacko’s art gallery, La Luz De Jesus, who relocated it to the front steps of the store, where it will reside “for the foreseeable future,” he told TheWrap.
Gallery director Matt Kennedy said he’s “happy to preserve it” and doesn’t have a deadline for when it will be removed.
“I’d be happy to leave it up for the election cycle, if possible. I’m hoping that on the day after election day it’s no longer relevant,” Kennedy said. So, no need to guess who he is voting for, then…
See the L.A. statue in the photos above and the New York one below.
https://twitter.com/WolfHudsonIsBad/status/766433511398080512
Jordan Burchette contributed to this report.