Art or ‘sickie’ shrine? NYC’s giant phallic pink leg is creeping people out



Back in April, New York City unveiled a behemoth of a statue in the middle of Times Square called “Grounded in the Stars.” Standing at 12 feet tall, the bronze sculpture depicts an average-looking, overweight, anonymous black woman dressed in casual clothing standing with hands on hips. The artist, Thomas J. Price, said it was designed to challenge traditional norms regarding who deserves monumentalizing, forcing a confrontation with the supposed systemic erasure of marginalized bodies and identities.

In other words, it’s a woke, finger-wagging lecture in the form of a looming bronze woman.

And a lot of people hated it. The statue sparked a firestorm of criticism and mockery from people of all races, some of whom demanded the statue’s immediate removal.

But New York City just can’t seem to get the message that its denizens are sick of looking at bad art. That very same month, it debuted a 10-foot fountain in the form of a pink foot and leg covered in red-lipped mouths with tongues sticking out, giving the impression of infection or disease. The artist, Mika Rottenberg, designed the grotesque structure as an “irreverent take on the tradition of classical fountains.”

When Rick Burgess, BlazeTV host of “The Rick Burgess Show” and “Strange Encounters,” recently traveled to the Big Apple to visit his son, he was fortunate enough to avoid this bubblegum-pink monstrosity, but his content producer, Chris Adler, wasn’t so lucky.

On a trip to NYC for his wedding anniversary, Adler and his wife encountered the “big pink foot.” He plays a video of the fountain for Rick and the panel.

Rick immediately notices something strange about the shape of the leg.

“It’s so important to look at the toes,” he says, joking about the phallic shape of the shin, where the rounded top shoots out water. “I noticed a lot of people from the Pride parade begin to gather around it like it was a god.”

“I guess they didn't notice the foot,” he laughs. “I hate to disappoint you; it's a leg.”

“There’s some sickies out there,” says Adler.

To hear more of the panel’s conversation and see a video of the fountain, watch the clip above.

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NYC removes the city's last public pay phone, marking the end of an era



It’s the end of an era: The last standing public pay phone in New York City was removed from a street in Times Square on Monday.

City officials bid a public farewell to the iconic, coin-operated phone booth as a crane operator tore it from its place in the sidewalk at Seventh Avenue and West 50th Street Monday morning.

The New York Post reported that the phone booth’s removal marks the completion of New York City’s nearly decade-long attempt to replace pay phones with LinkNYC kiosks, which provide people on the streets with free wi-fi and domestic calling services, enable them to charge their mobile devices, allow people to place 911 and 311 calls, and other amenities.

Mark Levine, the president of the borough of Manhattan, who was present at the last pay phone’s removal, said that he hopes its replacement will bring more equitable technology access for New Yorkers. He also admitted the removal of the longtime fixture was bittersweet.

“I won’t miss all the dead dial tones, but gotta say I felt a twinge of nostalgia seeing it go,” he said.

Under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, in 2014 the mayor’s office put out a request for proposals for what to replace pay phones with. The mayor’s office noted that the goal was to replace the archaic technology with new infrastructure that offered free 24/7 public WIFI.

The CityBridge company's proposal to build a LinkNYC system was chosen the same year the request was sent out, and the city government began swapping pay phones for the new LinkNYC stations in 2016.

Most of the city’s old pay phones were sent to the scrapyard by 2020, and more than 7,500 of the public pay phones have been replaced with about 2,000 LinkNYC kiosks at this time.

The pay phone removed from Midtown will be sent to the Museum of the City of New York as a relic of the days before cell phones became widely used. It will be featured in the exhibit “Analog City: NYC B.C. (Before Computers)” that opened this past Friday.

The removed pay phone was the last-city owned public pay phone in New York City. A few private pay phones on public property still exist and are still in operation. Four enclosed phone booths have also been permanently saved from removal along West End Avenue on the Upper West Side.

CNBC reported that City Commissioner Matthew Fraser said, “Just like we transitioned from the horse and buggy to the automobile and from automobile to the airplane, the digital evolution has progressed from pay phones to high-speed wi-fi kiosks to meet the demands of our rapidly changing daily communication needs.”

‘Come Back So We Can Tax You,’ New York City Begs Departed Residents

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer warned the Big Apple's wealthy residents Tuesday are likely to face higher taxes to cover a $4.2 billion deficit.