On Sunday (May 8), a popular Twitter handle (@sincerity_pics) posted an image of a statue of MK Gandhi with red, glowing eyes and claimed that it was vandalized in the San Franciso city in the state of California in the United States of America.
In a tweet, it said, “Someone put red laser eyes on the Gandhi Statue in San Francisco.” The tweet has evoked strong reactions from netizens, with some finding it humorous while others deeming it a ‘condemnable act.’
At the time of writing, the tweet had received over 9.8K likes and was shared more than 1300 times. The Twitter account, which posted the image, has over 66,000 followers and is named, ‘It seems to be a lie, but it’s not.’
As per reports, the statue of MK Gandhi is made of bronze and was installed in 1988 near the San Francisco Ferry Building. It was sculpted by Zlatko Paunov and Steven Lowe. The statue is 8 feet tall and was gifted by the Gandhi Memorial International Foundation. It is maintained by the Arts Commission.
The Truth behind the viral image
The image was originally posted on Reddit 3 years ago in August 2019 by a user named ‘VickyOneTime’ with the caption, ‘What I can only imagine was Winston Churchill’s nightmare…’
As per a report in The Indian Express, the vandalism was the act of a prankster. “Undated photos also showed an unidentified man climbing to the statue, which is a gift from the Gandhi Memorial International organization, and adding the lights to the statue’s eyes,” it stated.
The report also added that the MK Gandhi statue has been vandalized several times in the past, with missing spectacles being the most common cause of theft.
No record of vandalism exists
However, as per a report in USA Today, there is no record of any such act of vandalism. While speaking about the viral Reddit images in August 2021, Rachelle Axel confirmed the development to the news publication.
Axel is the acting director of communications for the San Francisco Arts Commission. She said, “The photos from the Reddit/Twitter posting are in fact the only evidence we have ever seen of the incident. It was never reported to the (city) officially, so there is no record of it.
“When the Arts Commission’s collections team examined the statue in 2019 there was no evidence that anything had happened, and there was no damage,” Axel further added.
