Naked Hillary Clinton statue stirs confrontation in New York City
Morning commuters argued over the merits of the piece as some attempted to tear it down
An artist caused quite the stir in New York’s Financial District with a statue that depicted an obscene caricature of Hillary Clinton.
A crowd gathered around the nude statue of the Democratic presidential nominee as one woman expressed her outrage with the art piece and toppled it over. The artist tried to stand the sculpture back up, but onlookers prevented him from doing so in video.
“This is obscene!” a woman identified as Nancy, an employee at the nearby National Museum of the American Indian shouted. She told the New York Daily News: “To put something up like this in front of my workplace – I shouldn’t have to see this.”
Graphic in its production, the sculpture shows Ms Clinton with goat hooves wearing an open robe, her breasts exposed. The figure of a man appears on her left side fondling her stomach and making a kiss face.
The statue is reminiscent of a similar nude statue of Donald Trump erected in Union Square park in Manhattan in August, entitled “The Emperor Has No Balls”.
The Clinton statue was made by 27-year-old artists Anthony Scioli, the Daily News reported. He was ordered by counterterrorism police posted nearby to remove the sculpture because he lacked the proper permitting to stage such a demonstration.
Morning commuters who witnessed the scuffle over the art argued over its merits and whether or not the removal of the piece was a violation of the First Amendment.
“This lady shows up and tips it over and starts assaulting anyone who tried to put it back up!,” one witness, Gene H, 39, said. He told reporters that the statue should stay up, citing freedom of speech laws.
The statue reportedly went up before 6 am; it was gone by 8.30 am.