Paranormal investigator buys naked Trump statue for $28,000 at auction

Park authorities haul away a statue of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in Union Square Park in New York City on August 18, 2016. The illegally placed statue drew hundreds of curious onlookers, who took selfies with the statue, which was signed "Ginger." A published report attributed the work to the anarchist collective INDECLINE, which titled the project "The Emperor Has No Balls." Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP

LOS ANGELES — A naked statue of Donald Trump, complete with a distended belly and jowly sneer, is to go on display at a Haunted Museum after a paranormal investigator bought it at auction.

Julien's Auctions announced Wednesday it sold the artwork—believed to be the last of the controversial statues not vandalized or destroyed—for $28,000 (€23,000) at its biannual auction in Los Angeles.

 

SOLD FOR $28,000! "The Emperor Has No Balls" by Indecline (Art Collective)! Sold tonight in our "Street and Urban Art" auction! Purchased by Zak Bagans’ The Haunted Museum in Las Vegas! Learn more at www.JuliensAuctions.com! #StreetArt #ContemporaryArt #UrbanArt #ModernArt #Auction #LiveAuction #OnlineAuction #JuliensAuctions #Banksy #Basquiat #Invader #RETNA #SpaceInvader #KeithHaring #AndyWarhol #KAWS #AIIROH #INDECLINE #Trump #DonaldTrump

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May 2, 2018 at 8:26pm PDT

The infamous statue by a West Coast anarchist collective is one of a series depicting the 45th president in the nude, but without testicles.

In August 2016—during Trump's then improbable bid for the White House—the statues appeared in public spaces in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Seattle and Cleveland, garnering international attention.

The four other naked Trumps—titled "The Emperor Has No Balls" were confiscated or destroyed. In one cheeky response, New York officials pointed to regulations banning "any unpermitted erection in city parks, no matter how small."

The sole surviving copy was rescued by La Luz de Jesus Gallery on Hollywood Boulevard before it could be taken and melted down.

Buyer Zak Bagans—a paranormal investigator and American television personality — intends to put the fleshy Trump on show at his Haunted Museum in Las Vegas, according to a statement from Julien's. — Agence France-Presse