In what can only be described as a too-on-the-nose metaphor for the United States’ weakening influence on the world, a video making the rounds on social media shows a giant replica of the Statue of Liberty toppling over in a Brazilian parking lot, backdropped by a McDonald’s and other ephemera of urban decay.
The clip shows the statue succumbing to strong winds in the city of Guaíba, which is located across the bay from the much larger port city of Porto Alegre in Southern Brazil. A number of vehicles appear to flee the falling Lady Liberty, with one bewildered pedestrian quickening his step to avoid being crushed.
The replica once stood at 110 feet, making it just over a third as tall as the iconic structure that inspired it.
According to the Weather Channel, the statue became a landmark in the city in 2020, and belongs to a large department store chain called Havan. The chain is known for its stores that feature Neo-Greek architecture — along with giant replicas of the Statue of Liberty that adorn almost every single branch.
Guaíba mayor Marcelo Maranata has since acknowledged the toppling, praising Havan staff and emergency teams for ensuring nobody was hurt, as Gulf News reports. Investigations are ongoing as the franchise tries to determine why the statue succumbed to the high winds.
Many social media users were first alarmed at the sight before realizing it wasn’t the original located on Liberty Island in New York City’s harbor.
“As a New Yorker, this was WILD TO WATCH,” one user tweeted.
Others pointed out the rather obvious symbolism.
“A replica of the Statue of Liberty collapsing in front of a McDonald’s perfectly sums up the state of the world right now,” a user called Proud Socialist tweeted.
Some celebrated the toppling, calling it “art” and asserting that the video “goes hard asf.”
“Just looked up metaphor in the dictionary and this was the image,” one user on Bluesky wrote.
Many pointed out that Havan is owned by eccentric free-market evangelist Luciano Hang, a strong supporter of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who began serving a 27-year prison sentence last month for leading a coup.
“We’re a country of losers,” Hang told Bloomberg in 2019. “We can be winners.”
Hang, seen as the poster child of “Bolsonomics,” has also been an ardent supporter of president Donald Trump.
Political scientist Eduardo Grin called him a “very controversial character” in comments to Bloomberg, arguing that he has become the voice of a “business elite that is very aligned with rising conservative forces.”
In other words, it’s only fitting that his business empire is attempting to erect gaudy replicas of the Statue of Liberty across Brazil.
However, an attempt to install a similar behemoth at the Havan megastore in the Brazilian capital of Brasilia eventually failed. The statue was barred from being erected, as the Financial Times reported in 2018, because of limits on the maximum height of advertising in the city’s bylaws.
Now that Bolsonaro has started serving his decades-long prison sentence, the latest video takes on a whole new layer of meaning. It’s not just a ham-fisted metaphor for the United States losing its reputation on the world stage; it’s also symbolic of a major shift in power in Brazilian politics away from far-right, free market populism.
More on far-right populism: Elon Musk Breaks Rank, Rages Against Donald Trump’s Tariffs
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