Man With Transformer Statues Loses Battle Against Neighborhood Karens, Including Luke Russert

A Georgetown University professor lost a battle Monday to keep massive statues of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee Transformers out in front of his $4 million home just a few blocks from the university where he works in the computational neurology and functional neurosurgery department.

Newton Howard, the owner of the 10-foot and six-foot statues, told the DCist that “children absolutely love them,” but that didn’t stop locals, like his neighbor Luke Russert, from taking their fight over the statues to a local neighborhood commission.

It was there that Howard was told to take his massive Transformers in and go through the legal process in order to show off his works of art in a space outside his residence that has been determined to be public space.

Former NBC Capitol Hill correspondent Russert, who seems to be the lead Karen on this case, says the Transformers have created a huge hassle with people trying to get photos.

“What’s to stop someone from putting up a statue of Joseph Stalin and saying well this is provocative, it’s art, it speaks to me,” he told DCist. “They are a nuisance, they are an eyesore and they detract from the spirit of the neighborhood. I think a lot of us were perplexed how quickly they went up.”

Court fight looms for a Georgetown man (hero, really) who has erected Bumblebee and Optimus Prime statutes in front of his home. "Nuisance," "eyesore" "selfish," complain local NIMBYs. Visitors taking pictures pose a COVID risk, said one busybody. https://t.co/WjQSfeLk1c pic.twitter.com/eyzpU5tFc9

— Byron Tau (@ByronTau) March 4, 2021

Perhaps Luke wouldn’t mind this one next door to his multi-million-dollar townhouse:

The real test for the neighborhood commission would come if someone erected a Black Lives Matter statue outside his/her townhouse. Would the neighbors haul a neighbor into the high arts commission board meeting if this was the statue in question? What about a Kaepernick statue? That’s exactly what Mr. Howard should do. He’s wealthy.

He should blow a few bucks on a 10-foot-tall Kaepernick statue and see how long it takes before Luke and his band of Karens complain.

Let’s see those Karens tell Newton to take down a statue of THIS! Zero chance they go through with it: