Five identical statues of a nude Donald Trump have appeared overnight on street corners in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Seattle, and New York City. So, The Verge ran down to Union Square in NYC to see as much of fake nude Trump as our eyes could possibly tolerate (photos below!).
The Washington Post reports that the anarchist collective INDECLINE is responsible for the statues, and are calling this project "The Emperor Has No Balls." The name is ostensibly a reference to the famous fairytale "The Emperor’s New Clothes," in which a narcissistic emperor gets conned into strolling amongst his people in the nude. Mr. Robot fans might liken the stunt to the one pulled by the show’s anti-capitalist fsociety, who symbolically removed the testicles from the iconic Wall Street bull statue.
An anonymous spokesperson from INDECLINE told the Post, "like it or not, Trump is a larger-than-life figure in world culture at the moment. Looking back in history, that’s how those figures were memorialized and idolized in their time — with statues."
This isn’t the first time this group has gone after Trump. Protesting several comments that Trump made about Mexican immigrants being "rapists," they spray-painted a caricature of Trump with a ball gag in his mouth on a border wall in Tijuana, accompanied by the phrase "RAPE TRUMP!"
INDECLINE hired Los Angeles-based artist Ginger, who specializes in haunted houses and horror movies, to make the statues. You can read more from Ginger about the project over at The Washington Post, and take a closer look at the final product below. Our photographer, James Bareham, arrived on the scene shortly before the party was busted up by the busters at the City Parks Department.
Update: The Parks Department provided a statement to Gothamist, saying "NYC Parks stands firmly against any unpermitted erection in city parks, no matter how small."
Photographs by James Bareham
Update: August 18th, 4:48 PM EST. Updated to include a statement from New York City Parks Department
Comments
By karlfranks on 08.18.16 2:10pm
dammit dale!!!!
By JamesXS on 08.18.16 5:49pm
This is amazing.
By oghowie on 08.18.16 2:11pm
At it’s finest this is
Art…
Imitating Life…
Imitating TROLLING!!
By gdgail on 08.18.16 2:16pm
It’s always interesting to see what we are allowed to do and publish when it comes to depicting conservatives.
Try to imagine the same with liberals like Obama or Hillary.
By whiteshirtonly on 08.18.16 2:18pm
I would say this is more of a jerk vs. non-jerk issue than liberal vs. conservative. I feel like people wouldn’t throw a fit if it was Anthony Weiner who is liberal.
By mjonesjr90 on 08.18.16 2:24pm
You are right except in the case of Hillary. People would be losing their minds if this was done to a woman.
By GreatAmerican on 08.18.16 3:08pm
You’re all wrong.
By Webran61 on 08.18.16 3:10pm
If you can’t understand the difference between the Trump statue and the pictures you posted, then I don’t know what to tell you.
By GreatAmerican on 08.18.16 3:15pm
But he proved you wrong. It has been done to women. Reddit has nude pictures of Trump as well as of Hillary. Both hit Reddit’s frontpage.
By knightridrr on 08.18.16 3:33pm
Reddit is its own world.
You honestly think if this guy did this exact same thing using Hillary instead of Trump, people would laugh and act like its no big deal? Hell no. We’d have cries of sexism and body shaming all over the place.
By GreatAmerican on 08.18.16 4:59pm
Not standing on one side or the other, but this is undeniably true. That’s why I half dislike this…
I don’t completely dislike it because I, obviously, hate Trump. I just don’t think this is the best way to take him down. It doesn’t have a real message. This isn’t going to change anyone’s mind about politics.
By Kelsomatic on 08.18.16 5:18pm
There’s no one thing that will change most peoples’ mind. It’s the combination of many small things.
By theNEOone on 08.18.16 6:01pm
True, it is simply my suggestion that if this is what helps change your mind then you have some weird internal qualifications for what makes someone a good presidential candidate. I’d say the vast majority of presidents would like like shit as a naked statue, haha. There’s so much aside from physical fitness that Trump is doing horribly wrong.
By Kelsomatic on 08.18.16 7:01pm
Haha, I see the pun.
By Yemil Velez on 08.19.16 10:53am
Your argument implies that anyone who supports Trump is reasonable enough to possibly be convinced to not support Trump given a good enough argument. If you’ve gotten past Trump’s own ridiculous statements, nobody else can help you.
By 4ndrew on 08.18.16 6:09pm
I have friends who used to like Trump but due to debates that we’ve had (and of course in part thanks to Trump’s own willingness to contradict himself) they’ve come around…
Your perception of polarity betrays your possession of it, which will only serve to create more of the same.
By Kelsomatic on 08.18.16 6:59pm
I applaud your efforts. To be fair I’m Canadian and don’t actually know any Trump supporters, so my opinions are that of a baffled outsider.
By 4ndrew on 08.18.16 7:21pm
I question how strongly your friends supported Trump. All of the Trump supporters I know and have come across become angry at the mere mention of any alternative view beyond their own. I also know more conservatives who are not willing to support Trump because of his craziness and therefore require no convincing.
By dsa777 on 08.18.16 11:49pm
No… They definitely supported Trump. It was terrible. Part of the appeal of Trump to them was as a disruptor. They didn’t agree with everything he said (although maybe more than I would’ve liked, but I was able to turn them around of some of those views) but did like the idea that he would really shake up the stagnant, shitty, never-ending political stalemate we have in the US. Honestly this is the only thing I even remotely appreciate about Trump, and it doesn’t really have a lot to do with him and also does not actually require him being elected. He’s already disrupted enough for me to feel like things might change a little in his wake.
Anyway now we’re all on the same page and hate both party candidates but feel like Hillary is a less shitty option, even if it will physically hurt to vote for her. Happy ending for all.
By Kelsomatic on 08.19.16 1:29am
Trump is the one who loudly boasted about his penis size during a debate. Trump is the one who has dragged US politics into a racist, sexist gutter. Hillary hasn’t, so why would anyone make a statue like this of Hillary?
By salishsee on 08.19.16 1:57am
Its not meant to change anyone’s mind. It intended to piss off a man with such a fragile ego that he finds it necessary to brag about his dick size on national TV. A man who has no problem mocking disabled people, veterans, women, etc. Its giving Trump a taste of his own medicine.
He reaps what he sows. Total schadenfreude.
By minimalist on 08.20.16 4:00pm
Move those goalposts, buddy.
By Triple Creme on 08.18.16 6:05pm
You’re not acting like the Trump statue is no big deal, cowardly dishonest right winger.
By trewth_seeker on 08.19.16 12:19pm
Actually, people have been calling this body-shaming and transphobic against Trump. See here: http://feministing.com/2016/08/19/psa-your-transphobia-and-body-shaming-isnt-radical/
I don’t agree with the sentiment of that article, but my point is that people will get upset about practically any perspective that is different than their own in this day and age. Just as some feminists would call this act sexist if perpetuated against Hillary Clinton, there are more than a few conservatives calling any attack on Trump an attack on their values.
You only happen to see the effect on one side, but from my perspective EVERYONE is hyper-sensitive.
By radderthanrad on 08.20.16 2:21pm