A bronze statue of Harambe appeared on Wall Street surrounded by 10,000 bananas
(Picture: Getty Images)On Monday afternood, a bronze statue of Harambe that stands 7-feet tall appeared near Wall Street surrounded by 10,000 bananas.
Harambe was the Cincinnati Zoo gorilla who made waves in 2016 after picking up and carrying a 3-year-old boy who climbed into the enclosure he resided in - and then got shot.
Harambe's statue was installed at Bowling Green Park, opposite to the iconic Charging Bull statue, surrounded by bananas (which will eventually be donated to local food banks and community fridges).
The reason? To highlight the wealth gap.
The organizers, who are also the founders of Sapien Network, an in-development social media platform "dedicated to putting the needs and welfare of human beings first," noted they put up the display to show that Wall Street is now "bananas," and completely disconnected from the needs of common citizens.
BREAKING: 7-Foot-Tall Harambe Ape Statue has been built in front of Wall Street's Charging Bull, which is now covered in bananas. pic.twitter.com/n3xBxGpofg
— Mr. Whale (@CryptoWhale) October 18, 2021
In conversation with NBC News 4, Robert Giometti, Tejay Aluru and Ankit Bhatia, who are co-founders of the initiative, said the following sentiments about the creation of the statue: "Harambe is a representation of something that lets us look at more than just ourselves...A simple gesture of giving a banana builds community. As a society, we need to come together. We can't keep fighting to come together."
Once news broke out on Twitter about the statue, people were in favour of it.
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Harambe has never left us. RIP to the king https://t.co/e6EqFDjXGI
— Sara Celi (@SaraGCeli) October 18, 2021
— tyfecta (@TylerHe25030789) October 18, 2021
Nice one! https://t.co/98uy8wsxd0
— Alex Eismann (@EismannAli) October 18, 2021
Harambe Forever✊ https://t.co/uchDeXy9rN
— Robi (@robi_concepcion) October 18, 2021
You love to see it. #RIPHarambe https://t.co/EYkMFe5o5t
— z (@degenharambe) October 18, 2021
Harambe was controversially murdered in May 2016 by zookeepers who feared for the safety of the 3-year-old gorilla, although the gorilla had never been hostile towards him. Some even speculated at the time that the animal appeared to be guarding the youngster.
His death triggered a heated debate over the status of primates in captivity and spawned a slew of Internet jokes. In 2017, a Cheeto that allegedly resembled Harambe was sold for $99,900.00. And in2019, Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, even released a rap record, “RIP Harambe” in response to the scandal.
