Italian artist Sergio Furnari plans to unveil a statue of the late Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk in Times Square on September 10, marking the one-year anniversary of Kirk's assassination. Furnari stated the project is an exercise of free speech and not a political statement.
Furnari has been documenting the creation of the statue, described as larger than life-size, through videos on his Instagram account since last year. He began working on the models after Kirk was killed during a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University.
In a video shared over the weekend, Furnari described his vision for the Times Square unveiling, calling it "the center of the universe." He suggested the statue could offer a place of peace for Kirk's supporters. Furnari has indicated that he has received threats against himself and the statue leading up to the planned debut.
"Now, to all the haters, how many times you guys want to kill Charlie?" Furnari said in a recent video, addressing potential vandalism. "I mean, wasn't one time enough? To all of you guys out there that want to come and destroy...want to bring a drill bat and some spray paint, and you want to destroy him, you want to burn him, come on guys. The guy's dead. I mean, if you guys are afraid of a statue, there's something really wrong with you. It's just a statue. The message is simple: freedom of speech. I'm exercising my First Amendment [right] which is freedom of speech. That's all it is."
Furnari explained that his inspiration initially stemmed from an admiration for Kirk's willingness to engage in dialogue with those who disagreed with him. "I did not agree with 99.9% of whatever he was talking about, but there's the 0.001% that I agree with him. At the moment you kill or assassinate people just because you don't agree with somebody, that's when you become like the worst country ever," Furnari said in November.
He denied that the statue was a political endeavor, stating, "I'm not into that stuff at all. I like Trump, but that's it. I'm basically talking, you know what I mean? You know, it felt like I'm a MAGA, you know, or I'm Republican, or I am a Democrat. I'm an artist, that's it. I never voted, never will. Yeah, it's not about politics. You know, this is not like a political statement. This is just like a guy that got killed and then got bullied."
Furnari is funding the project through a GoFundMe page and has stated he sold his apartment to continue its development. He previously faced similar reactions after sculpting a bust of former President Donald Trump.