Thursday, October 28, 2021

Seven-foot bronze Harambe statue stares down Zuckerberg's Facebook

A 7-foot bronze statue of Harambe, the gorilla shot and killed in 2016 at the Cincinnati Zoo, appeared outside Facebook's California headquarters Tuesday to reportedly protest the power the social networking giant wields.

The gorilla, which appeared with about 10,000 bananas, was placed at the base of the company's blue logo to "stare down the Facebook-Zuckerberg machine," according to a Twitter post from the Sapien Tribe, the group that installed the statue.

The group defines itself as "the first sovereign digital nation dedicated to putting the needs of human beings/our planet first."

The effigy of the fallen primate was last seen earlier in October facing down the Charging Bull statue on Wall Street in New York City, according to a report.

The Harambe statue is a temporary piece whose presence works to "show that the dominant power structures created by financial institutions like Wall Street and technology empires like Facebook have become wholly out of touch with the needs of everyday people," according to a press release by the Sapien Tribe.


The statue, which was taken down outside Facebook's headquarters, is a form of peaceful protest, the group said.

Despite its installation in New York City not being permitted by the city, the police there were "supportive" of the effort and "made accommodations," according to the report.

A statue of Harambe, the gorilla from the Cincinnati Zoo, faces Arturo Di Modica's "Charging Bull," surrounded by bananas, in New York's Financial District, Monday, Oct. 18, 2021. The gorilla statue and bananas were part of a protest against wealth disparity by Sapien.Network, who says that the fruit will later be distributed to local food banks. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Richard Drew/AP

The Harambe statue is likely to appear in other cities across the nation, the group said.

Minnesota-based companies Outshaped and Wood + Metal Fabrications constructed the 7-foot statue, and the bananas have reportedly been provided by food banks.

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