Internet Divided Over Curvy Mermaid Statue
Social media users have weighed in on the controversy over a voluptuous
mermaid statue in southern Italy, and most critics are taking issue with the
mermaid having both a human backside and a fishtail.
“The debate
aroused by the Mermaid is welcome, as long as it is about such issues like the
freedom of artistic expression or the remains of an ancient and
out-of-the-time way of looking at the female (or male) body,” Adolfo Marciano,
principal of the IISS Luigi Russo art high school that produced the now-famous
statue, told Fox News Digital in a statement.
The school created
the statue as a way to honor Rita Levi-Montalcini, a late Italian senator and
Nobel laureate, according to the Monopoli Times, which first covered the
story.
Tiziana Schiavarelli, an actor, said that local residents
were right to express “some perplexity” about the statue.
“It looks like a mermaid with two silicone breasts and, above all, a
huge a—s never seen before on a mermaid. At least not any I know,”
Schiavarelli said, according to The Guardian.
Whoopi Goldberg
weighed in during a segment on “The View,” saying “she got a booty” and
ridiculing people for making such a big deal about something that is “not
real.”
“I don’t think kids are thinking, ‘Ooh, she’s sexy,’”
Goldberg said before the hosts devolved into an argument about how a mermaid
can have both a backside and a fishtail.
Another host expressed surprise the controversy had occurred in Italy, which
has “so much naked art all over the place.”
A picture of the statue
made a splash on social media, with most users focusing on the fact that the
controversy surrounded a fictional creature.
One social media user,
posting a screenshot of The Guardian’s report, said the statue was “a
disgrace” because “mermaids famously do not have human butts, the tail goes up
to their hips.”
Another user mocked the controversy, saying, “Right. Of course! Mermaids are
real and we know what they should look like.”
“This statue is
setting unrealistic beauty standards for mermaids everywhere!” another user
wrote.
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