Their newest plot unfolded right this moment as they dressed up as brilliant yellow chickens and protested the grand opening of Carollo’s Dogs & Cats Walkway, a brand new set up of pet sculptures at Maurice A. Ferré Park, conceived of by none apart from commissioner-turned-art-director Carollo.
The chickens have been donning sleeveless white undershirts AKA wife-beaters emblazoned with Carollo’s mugshot from his 2001 arrest on a home battery cost whereas he was within the midst of divorce proceedings. Carollo, who was the mayor of Miami on the time, was jailed for allegedly hanging his soon-to-be ex-wife with a teapot at their marital residence, leaving a big welt.
As a part of the fowl stunt, the chickens handed out wife-beaters with the Carollo mugshot to members of the gang and held up indicators stating, “Joe Carollo – Wife Beater” as Carollo was on stage on the Dogs & Cats Walkway occasion.
Thomas Kennedy, a author, activist, and member of CUCK, tells New Times the group “was not yelling or being bodily disruptive” when the Miami Police Department approached and booted the chickens from the occasion.
“They have been informed they needed to go away a public occasion in a public park,” says Kennedy, who beforehand made headlines together with his protests towards Gov. Ron DeSantis, which prompted state officers to ban him from the governor’s press occasions.
As they have been being escorted out of the park, one of many protesters, Morgan Gianola, had the audacity at hand out one in all CUCK’s signature undershirts to a passerby.
Officers misplaced their composure, Kennedy claims.
“As he gave this particular person the shirt, police went fucking ballistic,” he says.
Video of the Miami Police Department’s villain-busting handiwork, obtained solely by New Times, reveals officers struggling to slap cuffs on Gianola over the hen apparel. Police then stroll him off the park property earlier than they disrobe him out of his costume subsequent to a patrol automobile.
As of 8 p.m., Gianola was nonetheless in police custody, in response to CUCK.
Kennedy, who was not dressed as a hen, says Gianola joined the trouble to egg on Carollo as a result of he “needed to take part in a bit of civic engagement and train his First Amendment” rights. He claims CUCK was fashioned by a small collective of activists who’re “uninterested in corruption and grifting within the metropolis authorities.”
Attorney David Winker, who has been in contact with Gianola’s spouse and plans to symbolize Gianola, says that the arrest is “troubling.” He says Gianola has been charged with resisting an officer with out violence, trespass after warning, and disorderly conduct.
“There is maybe no conduct extra constitutionally protected than political speech at a public occasion in a public area about an elected official. Everyone concerned in arresting this hen must be ashamed of themselves,” Winker tells New Times.
Documentary filmmaker Billy Corben attended the occasion alongside the chickens. He says Miami taxpayers will wind up footing the invoice if claims over the arrest spark litigation.
“Everyone can let a peaceable protest play itself out, and all of it goes away. [The City of Miami] can’t assist however violate somebody’s constitutional rights, they usually do it each single day,” says Corben.
Corben beforehand funded Carollo protests that concerned sending LED vehicles across the metropolis with digital banners that includes Carollo’s 2001 arrest mugshot. Videos launched of a current truck journey performed a parody tune through which the lyrics, “He’s a spouse beater,” have been belted out to the refrain of the Bee Gees tune “Night Fever.”
The grand opening of the Dogs & Cats Walkway was a free “block get together” that celebrated the brand new park set up following a non-public ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday. The park had its “gentle opening” this previous December throughout Art Basel and has already been “visited by 1000’s of individuals from all all over the world,” in response to a press launch.
Carollo and his present spouse got here up with the thought for the installment two years in the past after she realized a couple of related park in Colombia embellished with cat sculptures. The commissioner pushed the park idea via his position as head of the Bayfront Park Management Trust, which manages Bayfront and Maurice A. Ferré parks.
The sculptures have been accomplished via an $896,000 contract with Art and Sculpture Unlimited Inc.
“You always have a few haters,” Carollo stated at a press convention this weekend. “They attempt to make this [seem] prefer it was the tip of the world, that what we have been doing was the unique, mortal sin.”
The venture triggered a stir on the belief, as board member Cristina Palomo claimed it was authorised with out correct discover, dialogue, enter from artwork consultants, or aggressive bidding. Palomo resigned in 2021, claiming the “poorly vetted venture” was prioritized over different “lengthy promised important park parts.”