Why was there a sex toy on top of Seattle's Lenin statue?

A dildo appeared on top of Fremont's Lenin statue, Friday, August 25, 2017. A group calling themselves Operation UNICORN placed it there Thursday night as a political statement. A dildo appeared on top of Fremont's Lenin statue, Friday, August 25, 2017. A group calling themselves Operation UNICORN placed it there Thursday night as a political statement. Photo: Stephen Cohen/SeattlePI Photo: Stephen Cohen/SeattlePI Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Why was there a sex toy on top of Seattle's Lenin statue? 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

A group calling itself Operation Unicorn said it glued a sex toy to the head of Fremont's Lenin statue Thursday night.

In a Friday press release, the group claimed they did so to thwart a rally planned by "right-wing extremists" later in the day and draw attention to the "false equivalency" of comparing the statue of Communist leader Vladimir Lenin with Confederate monuments, "which celebrate treason and slavery, and are publicly owned on public land."

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"The Lenin statue ... is here largely as mockery, privately owned on private land, for sale by owner, with blood constantly painted on its hands by Seattlites as a reminder of Soviet brutality," the group said.

Last week, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray called for the statue to come down, saying "We should never forget our history, but we also should not idolize figures who have committed violent atrocities and sought to divide us based on who we are or where we came from."

The 18-foot tall Lenin statue has called Fremont home since 1995 after being saved from destruction in Slovakia by a Issaquah man. Unlike most portrayals of Lenin, which depicted him as a scholar or philosopher, the Fremont statue casts him as a revolutionary, surrounding him with flames and weapons.

Over two-plus decades, the statue has come to be regarded as one of Seattle's weirdest art installations, but there are those who maintained it has no place in the city. The statue, which sports a $250,000 price tag and is still awaiting for a buyer, is often vandalized with graffiti and red paint meant to look like blood.

Seattlepi.com reporter Stephen Cohen can be reached at 206-448-8313 or stephencohen@seattlepi.com. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @scohenPI.