Sergio Furnari's Charlie Kirk statue. Photograph: Sergio Furnari View image in fullscreen Sergio Furnari's Charlie Kirk statue. Photograph: Sergio Furnari New York sculptor spent $100,000 to make a Charlie Kirk statue no one wants to buy Sergio Furnari said he thought the lifesize sculpture β which no one commissioned β would raise βmillionsβ of dollars A New York sculptor has been left furious after spending $100,000 of his own money to build a lifesize statue of Charlie Kirk, only to find that no one wants to buy it. Sergio Furnari, originally from Italy, had hoped the statue of the deceased far-right activist, which he intends to display in Times Square, would raise βmillionsβ of dollars. Instead, he said he has been inundated by messages from people saying they intend to urinate on the sculpture. To add injury to insult, Furnari recently broke his foot working on the statue, after tripping over a roll of tape in his studio. βIs it cursed? Maybe. I donβt know,β he told the Guardian. Kirk, a far-right political figure who served as a sort of Pied Piper for young Republicans through his Turning Point USA foundation, was shot dead in September last year. He was known for his racist and bigoted views, using his podcast to claim that βprowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white peopleβ and speculating : βIf I see a Black pilot, Iβm going to be like: βBoy, I hope heβs qualified.ββ Despite, or perhaps because of, such beliefs, Kirk became a hugely celebrated and influential figure in Maga circles. In New York City, one of the most diverse, and Democratic, cities in the US, Kirk is far less popular. Furnari said he did not agree with Kirk on βcertain issuesβ. βI wasnβt a fan of Charlie,β he said. βLike one thing that I couldnβt stand about him while he was alive [was] when he was talking about Palestine. [Kirk would say]: βOh no, Palestine doesnβt exist.β I thought: βWell, this guy must be out of his mind.ββ Instead, Furnari said he made the statue in an effort to βglorify and to exercise the first amendment, this freedom of speechβ β although at points during the conversation, Furnari also said he made it to support Charlie Kirkβs wife; to βglorify democracyβ; and to βcommemorate a personβ. View image in fullscreen Sergio Furnari with his statue of Charlie Kirk. Photograph: Sergio Furnari He later added: βWhy am I making the statue? The same reason why Michelangelo did the PietΓ , or Michelangelo did the David, or Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa. Why? Just to commemorate a moment, you know, a person.β Itβs also clear, however, that Furnari, despite no one having commissioned him to make the statue, was hoping to make money. He said he had expected unnamed wealthy figures to donate to him β he spent $100,000 on steel, resin and labor β but that has not come to pass. In desperation, Furnari set up an online fundraising campaign, hoping to raise an initial $150,000, but potentially millions of dollars, which he said would allow him to ta