Nebraska Woman Campaigns To Have Spider-Man Sculpture Removed – Believes It Depicts Devil Horns
Jorge Arenas
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A Nebraska woman is campaigning to have a Spider-Man sculpture taken down believing it depicts devil horns instead of Spider-Man’s hands.
As seen below the 6-foot Spider-Man sculpture depicts Spider-Man’s hands as he fires off his iconic webbing forming a spider’s web. The sculpture is actually part of Serving Hands Lincoln’s public art project. The project is sponsored by Campus Life, a ministry of Lincoln Youth for Christ. The sculpture is one of 50 placed throughout the city.
According to KCTV 5 a woman in Lincoln, Nebraska petitioned the city’s mayor to have the Spider-Man statue, which is located at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo taken down.
In the written complaint sent to the mayor, it reads in part:
“It is a sculpture of two hands open, painted Red & Black, and formed into Devil Horns. This is anti-Christian, and demonic, and completely inappropriate and offensive to place in front of the Children’s Zoo and the Gardens where couples are married.”
The Lincoln Star Journal also added that the woman referred to the statue as a “hate crime against the church.”
Lincoln’s ombudsman Lin Quenzer responded to the concerned citizen, “Campus Life chose hands as a representation of its mission to serve the community and reach out to teens in difficult circumstances.” Quenzer also indicated that the Spider-Man hands is one of four sculptures placed on public property and that the city was not involved in which pieces were placed on public rather than private property.
Quenzer also stated that out of the fifty sculptures, four were allowed to be placed on city property, none of which were chosen by the city, which includes the Spider-Man sculpture in question.
Campus Life’s executive director Matt Schulte also responded to the accusations, “It absolutely surprised me.” He added, “We are a Christian organization that has been impacting kids for a long time … clearly we would have never have put something out there that celebrated the devil.”
Schulte also noted, “The sculpture is most definitely not a devil-related sculpture.” He continued, “It clearly has a very playful child-like intent.”
However, he did relate that the original sculpture did not have the spider webs coming out of Spider-Man’s hands because it was still a work in progress.
The sculpture along with the other 49 pieces of art will be auctioned off on October 25 at 7 p.m. at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Two-thirds of the proceeds will go to Campus Life while the remaining third will go the respective artist.
What do you make of this Spider-Man sculpture? Do you think it could be mistaken for devil horns? What do you make of the complaint to have the statue removed?
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