Detroit Artists Work to Fund RoboCop Statue

What started off as a simple joke has now become a movement to erect a statue of RoboCop in Detroit.

On Tuesday, Twitter user MT suggested to David Bing, Mayor of Detroit, "Philadelphia has a statue of Rocky & Robocop would kick Rocky’s butt. He’s a GREAT ambassador for Detroit.” Bing did not take the proposal seriously and dismissed the idea, as did MT. But not Detroit! The Motor City has taken the idea as its own and has started fundraising.

A Facebook event page was created to organize the movement and now has over 4,700 people “attending.” Also, a Kickstarter project has been started by a group of local artists who have pledged to raise 50,000 to fund the construction of the statue.

Responding to the overwhelming support for the idea, the mayor’s office told the Detroit Free Press that they would consider using public land for the project. “Should the opportunity present itself to receive a donation of this or any other works of public art, we will consider acceptance and appropriate placement,” said Karen Dumas, Bing’s spokeswoman.

As for the person who first spawned the idea, well, he’s exactly not thrilled that his joke turned into an actual project. “Raising $80,000 for a Robocop statue is cool. But raising $160,000 & using half of it to help Detroit would be a lot cooler IMO,” MT tweeted on Thursday.

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