A 7-foot tall bronzed statue of Harambe was installed in front of Facebook’s headquarters Oct., 26 before being promptly removed, CNN reports.
Harambe, the Cincinnati Zoo's 17-year-old western lowland gorilla, was killed on May 28, 2016, after a 3-year-old child climbed into his enclosure. Harambe grabbed and dragged the child. And, as zoo employees feared for the child's life, they decided to shoot the gorilla. The incident sparked all sorts of controversy about childcare and animal care along with lots and lots of memes.
According to CNN, the Harambe installation was accompanied by 10,000 real bananas that were placed on Facebook’s logo outside of its headquarters in Menlo Park, California.
The cable network says this is the second stop for the Harambe statue lately; it recently was in New York City in front of the famed Wall Street Charging Bull statue.
The self-described “first sovereign digital nation” The Sapien Tribe is taking credit for the incident.
“Financial institutions like Wall Street and technology empires like Facebook have become wholly out of touch with the needs of everyday people, using them for profit instead of empowering them as they claim to do,” the group says on Twitter.
The Sapien Tribe adds that Tuesday’s exhibition partially was to raise funds for San Francisco Bay area homeless shelters and food banks, saying that 10,000 bananas were donated to local organizations. The group calls on Facebook to “join in the effort.”
After the Wall Street stop, the group tweeted “Follow to find out #WheresHarambeGoing next.” So, where is Harambe going next?
The group has not revealed why its members feel connected to Harambe or why the gorilla best represents its mission to draw attention to society's ills.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
