Days after stories about his horrific Lucille Ball statue went viral, sculptor Dave Poulin has finally apologized.
As we reported last week, a statue of the iconic Hollywood actress stands in her hometown of Celoron, New York. It is supposed to recreate the legendary I Love Lucy vitameatavegamin scene, but it looks nothing like Ball. It is more like a monster.
Although the statue has been standing since 2009, the “We Love Lucy! Get Rid of This Statue" Facebook page only recently got attention after a Yahoo News story about the Facebook user’s plight to get the statue replaced. The town’s mayor, Scott Schrecengost, later told a local paper that the town couldn’t afford to have it changed, as Poulin wanted up to $10,000 to change it.
Now, Poulin has come forward with a letter to The Hollywood Reporter, writing, “I take full responsibility for 'Scary Lucy,' though by no means was that my intent or did I wish to disparage in any way the memories of the iconic Lucy image."
Poulin said that he has always considered it his “most unsettling sculpture,” adding, “Yes, in retrospect, it should have never been cast in bronze and made public, and I take complete ownership of that poor decision.”
Poulin offered to refurbish the statue himself and would not charge the town now.
Meanwhile, the Lucy fan behind the now-famous Facebook page wrote on Sunday that he is planning on launching a fundraising campaign to build a new statue. It would probably be built in nearby Jamestown, New York instead of Celoron.
“Celeron has been talking about chopping the head off this statue and putting on a new head. That would turn this monster into a true Frankenstein!” the Facebook user wrote. “You can see that even with a new face... and even if they get the face right... the body is as horrible. So I URGE you PLEASE DO NOT donate to any fund that promotes ‘Fixing’ this statue.”