‘It didn’t cause famine’: Petition to replace Churchill statue with giant ROBOT ruffles tabloids

An in-jest petition with a political message, calling for Winston Churchill’s London statue to be replaced with a giant anime robot, could’ve ended in oblivion, but thanks to the steamed-up tabloids it’s now globally amplified.

The petition to oust the Parliament Square statue of Britain’s celebrated wartime leader, who also has a questionable record that includes starving colonial subjects in Bengal to death, was launched by journalist Hussein Kesvani.

He wants Churchill’s statue replaced with that of an Evangelion, a giant bio-robotic defender from the ultra-popular Japanese franchise Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Look, all I’m saying is that no Evangelion ever caused a famine or took credit for anyone else’s work. Evangelions are also very cool, and sleek, with a more aspirational body figure than Winston Churchill.

The robot could serve as a new hero for post-Brexit Britain on its journey to independence, the petition suggests. Kesvani is even open to having the new statue adorned with a giant poppy to keep the connection with Britain’s martial history.

Hours into publication, the petition caught the attention of some British media. The enraged Daily Star tabloid branded its signatories “snowflakes” and said it was “remarkable” that there was even 150 of them. If anything, this managed to get more people to sign.

“I’m signing this mainly because of how the Daily Star moaned about it,” commented user Richard Nelson. “Well done, Daily Star!”

Meanwhile, the Independent lamented how “Britain has lost its collective mind” over political issues, and took its time to point out that Evangelion “has absolutely nothing to do with British history.”

Indeed, the cult Japanese manga and anime series take place in the fictional city of Tokyo-3, where giant mecha robots piloted by moody teenagers are fighting mysterious destructive beings, all the while digging into psychological and existential questions. But the reach of its vast popularity is far beyond Japan, with the world’s largest 25-meter statue of an Evangelion towering over China’s Shanghai. Churchill’s statue, in comparison, is only 12 feet (3.7 meters) high.

So, while the media has rightly pointed out that bigger petitions (ahem, Brexit) have been ignored by the UK parliament, it would probably be safer for the politicians not to put the choice between Churchill and the robot to any sort of referendum.

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