Times Square in New York is one of the world’s most popular tourist locations. Folks from all over the globe descend upon the tourist attraction all year-round, so it serves as the perfect place to make a statement. That’s exactly what’s happening after a stoic, 12-foot tall bronze statue of a Black woman popped up seemingly out of nowhere smack dab in the middle of Times Square. And MAGA is losing their ever-loving minds.
The piece was created by artist Thomas J. Price, a relentless legal adversary of President Donald Trump who has sued his administration over immigration and environmental policies. His artwork is part of a series called “Grounded in the Stars,” which organizers say confronts preconceived notions about identity and representation. The statue is of a woman wearing a plain T-shirt, pants, braided hair, an expressionless face and her hands resting on her hips.
Times Square Arts Director Jean Cooney explained how the artwork “is making a statement, potentially asking questions, about what we value as a city, as a society, and hopefully it’s a tribute to our shared humanity.” Per Price’s website, the statue was created to “disrupt traditional ideas” about what a “triumphant figure” ought to look like.
But MAGA online don’t quite see it that way and well, we can’t say we’re exactly surprised.
Author and ex-investment banker John LeFevre took to X with a photoshopped image of the statue with Attorney General Letitia James real head edited in place.
He wrote: “My favorite thing about Letitia James is that she says ‘statue of limitations’ instead of ‘statute.’” SMH.
One conservative wrote on X: “BREAKING: New York puts up a 25 foot bronze statue of Letitia James in Time Square.”
Another X user took disrespect to a whole ‘nother level with a photoshopped image of their own.
Other comments from MAGA included comparisons to Lizzo, their “confusion” that the statue was made in the image of a gorilla, and even calling the statue “Tyquisha” who “looks horrendous.”
The racist and downright sad remarks continued on X: “And it will be taken down once she goes to prison,” “That statue wants to know what gratuity means,” and “You cannot convince me that’s not Fat Albert.” Another Trump-lover asked where’s the “statue of a white dude?” calling out how “woke” the statue, and what is represents, is.
But despite the online hatred, not everyone feels that way.
“Me being a plus-size Black woman, I was kind of looking at it like, I wonder what me as a small child would’ve thought looking at something like that, representation,” said Blessing Obieze of Dallas, per CBS News. Kansas resident Bryan Woodson called the statue “powerful” as “a plus-size man. I’m African American, it’s an African American woman statue. So just seeing another piece for me to stop and have a moment with was very powerful to me.”
“Coming from a person of color background, it’s really nice to see something come across as this everyday person,” Ruby Chirackal of Greenwich Village said. “It looks a little bit out of place, but I also think that’s because of where we are standing. It might not look out of place if everything in our surrounding reflected everyday life more to us.”
The piece will be on display until June 17.