Fans are calling for the removal of a life-size bronze statue of comedy legend Lucille Ball. The hideous statue in Celoron, New York erected in 2009 has recently gained national attention after a Yahoo! News article about a Facebook Group which opposes the statute. The "We Love Lucy! Get Rid of this Statue," group was created in 2012 in an effort to remove the ugly representation of the comedic icon. The groups founder who wishes to remain anonymous tells CNN the Facebook group would like to see the statue replaced with a new one outside a planned Comedy Hall of Fame in Jamestown, home to the Lucy-Desi Museum & Center for Comedy and the annual Lucille Ball Comedy Festival. The founder says the statue is not fixable and that a new statue should be erected to honor her memory as the "Comedy Queen of Television"...

"Lucille Ball was one of the most talented, beautiful, funny women who ever appeared on television; a pioneer, a giant of television. My only goal is to have a sculpture of her in Jamestown which does her justice,"

The statues creator did not return requests to comment from CNN but according to the towns Mayor Scott Schrecengost the artist has been contacted about redoing the statue over the years. Schrecengost tells the local Post-Journal that the artist did respond but asked for several thousand dollars to correct the piece.

"He finally came back and said he wanted $8,000 to $10,000 to do it. I've also reached out to several other sculptors in the region, and some said they would do it, but we're still looking at about $5,000," he told the newspaper.

"We'd like to work with the original sculptor and wish he would stand behind his work enough to step up and fix it for free."

BUT apparently the national attention has the artist now back peddling...releasing a statement just yesterday saying he would now fix the statue for free and admitting it’s ”by far my most unsettling sculpture.”

In a letter to The Hollywood Reporter, the artist said:

I take full responsibility for ‘Scary Lucy,’ though by no means was that my intent or did I wish to disparage in any way the memories of the iconic Lucy image. ”From the day of its installation, I have shared my disappointment in the final outcome and have always believed it to be by far my most unsettling sculpture, not befitting of Lucy’s beauty or my ability as a sculptor. Yes, in retrospect, it should have never been cast in bronze and made public, and I take complete ownership of that poor decision.

 

The mayor of Celoron said the statue will remain on display until a decision is made for the repair. Even though the artist is willing to fix it at his own expense, the mayor does not want him to touch it again. In the mean time the Facebook fan page 'We Love Lucy, Get Rid of this Statue' has created a GoFundMe asking for the publics help in replacing the state. You can contribute to the cause and get rid of this 'Scary Lucy' asap!

 

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