Naked Donald Trump Statues Appear In Union Square, Around Country
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/CBS News/AP) -- Union Square was one of several sites around the country where life-size naked statues of Donald Trump were mounted on Thursday.
The statues greeted passers-by in New York, as well as in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Cleveland on Thursday. They are the brainchild of an activist collective called INDECLINE, which has spoken out against Trump before.
In a statement, the collective said the hope is that Trump, the former host of "The Apprentice" reality TV series, "is never installed in the most powerful political and military position in the world."
The statues were created by an artist in Cleveland. They are of a stern-faced Trump with his hands folded over a bulging belly. Some parts of male genitalia are visible while others seemingly are missing.
"It is through these sculptures that we leave behind the physical and metaphorical embodiment of the ghastly soul of one of America's most infamous and reviled politicians," INDECLINE said in its statement.
Trump's campaign declined to comment on the statues.
PHOTOS: Naked Trump Statue Pops Up In Union Square
The Union Square statue quickly drew the attention of people, many of whom posed for photographs with it, before it was removed by the Department of Parks and Recreation.
"NYC Parks stands firmly against any unpermitted erection in city parks, no matter how small," parks spokesman Sam Biederman joked.
A video posted by DNAInfo showed onlookers booing and groaning as workers snapped the statue off its base, leaving the feet behind, and loaded it face-down into the back of a pickup truck. One woman yelled, "Take his nasty feet, too!"
WCBS 880's Rich Lamb told Mayor Bill de Blasio about the naked statue on Thursday. De Blasio joked about it.
"That is a frightening thought, Rich," de Blasio said. "When he's wearing clothes, I don't like him. I can only imagine what he's like without clothes."
The mayor said he had not heard about the statue before Lamb brought it up.
"It sounds like I'm really glad it was removed," he said.
INDECLINE said statues on the West Coast were still in place late Thursday.
"I think it's fantastic, because he needs to be portrayed as small as he really is," Inner Sunset, San Francisco resident Melissa Reese to CBS San Francisco. Reese said she decided she needed to come and take a photo of the statue when she saw the story online.
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