New MLK Sculpture Criticized By Some Who Think It’s Nasty

"The Embrace" was inspired by a photo of Dr. King hugging his wife, Coretta. But not everyone is seeing it that way.

Itโ€™s been said that โ€œart is in the eye of the beholder, and everyone will have their own interpretation.โ€ But for a new sculpture honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., some beholders are interpreting it as insulting. The monument, called โ€œThe Embrace,โ€ was inspired by an image of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. hugging his wife, Coretta Scott King, after he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. But since its reveal in Boston Common last week, the sculpture has received mixed reviews.

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Only the coupleโ€™s arms are represented in the 20-foot tall, 40-foot wide statue, designed by a Brooklyn-based artist Hank Willis Thomas. And as more and more people get a glimpse of the completed piece, Twitter has erupted with comments from confused folks who couldnโ€™t understand why the artist left out the rest of the Kingsโ€™ body parts. Some have even suggested that from some angles, the sculpture looks like a sex act.

https://twitter.com/The_Vent_Line/status/1614100260292546561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/kennkat/status/1614664106153512961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

For his part, the Kingโ€™s son, Martin Luther King III, defended the artistโ€™s work, saying he was โ€œmovedโ€ by the sculpture. And in an interview with CNNโ€™s Don Lemon to commemorate the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday, he said he wasnโ€™t bothered by the fact that only his parentsโ€™ arms appear.

โ€œIโ€™m satisfied,โ€ he said. โ€œYeah, it didnโ€™t have my mom and dadโ€™s images, but it represents something that brings people together. And in this day and age, when thereโ€™s so much division, we need symbols that talk about bringing us together.โ€

But other family members have not been as kind and have not held back on throwing shade at the new statue. Seneca Scott, one of Coretta Scott Kingโ€™s cousins, has not been shy about making his dislike for the statue known, even calling for someone to โ€œmelt it down,โ€ on Twitter. โ€œI still canโ€™t get over how they tried to play my fam,โ€ Scott wrote in a January 15 tweet.

https://twitter.com/SenecaSpeaks21/status/1614759473612214272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Embrace Boston, a nonprofit racial justice organization that was instrumental in the creation of โ€œThe Embraceโ€ has not commented on the criticism.

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