OAN Staff Blake Wolf
8:41 AM – Thursday, May 8, 2025
New York City’s Time Square erected a 12-foot-tall “woke” statue of an obese Black woman meant to promote “greater cultural diversity.”
The statue, titled “Grounded in the Stars” was created by Thomas J Price, who “confronts preconceived notions of identity and representation,” according to the Times Square official website.
The statue features a woman wearing a t-shirt and pants with braided hair while resting her hands on her hips.
“Price’s multi-channel presentation on the screens and sculptural installation on the plaza below forms a two-part takeover in Times Square that foregrounds the intrinsic value of the individual and amplifies traditionally marginalized bodies on a monumental scale,” the website continued. “Grounded in the Stars disrupts traditional ideas around what defines a triumphant figure and challenges who should be rendered immortal through monumentalization.”
The display was funded in part by “public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council,” according to the website.
The description added that the woman represents a “stark contrast” to the “pedestaled permanent monuments – both white, both men – which bookend Duffy Square, while embodying a quiet gravity and grandeur.”
Price’s statue was immediately mocked on social media, with one user stating it “is a realistic representation of the girl at Chipotle after asking her to put another scoop of peppers on your burrito bowl.”
Another user argued that the statue is doing the exact opposite of its intended purpose of “challenging preconceived notions.”
“How does this statue erected in Times Square ‘confront preconceived notions of identity and representation,’ it’s just some obnoxious looking overweight black woman, it’s reinforcing those preconceived notions.”
“Personally I find it odd that they’re putting up a statue – something used normally to elevate or commemorate a person who has accomplished something great – but they’re doing it this time with someone who isn’t known for any accomplishment,” a third commenter added.
The other statues in Times Square are of Father Francis P. Duffy, a military chaplain who served in World War I, along with the Spanish-American war, and George M. Cohan, an American actor, songwriter and playwright most known for “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”
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