Jackie Robinson Statue Defaced, New York Saddened

A statue defaced depicting baseball hero Jackie Robinson has saddened many New Yorkers, and rewards are being offered to locate the culprits who vandalized the monument with anti-semitic epithets.

The Jackie Robinson statue defaced stands on Coney Island, and depicts the player and Pee Wee Reese in a casual embrace. According to MCU Park’s director of communications, Billy Harner, the statue was vandalized sometime between midnight Monday and 6 AM Tuesday, and park employees discovered the crime at around 11 AM that day.

In the aftermath, a black tarp was used to cover the black marker defacement of the monument, obscuring the racist and anti-Jewish words marking the beloved statue.

Harner says that staff are “optimistic that [they] will be able to remove all of the writing” on the Jackie Robinson statue, but the insult still struck New Yorkers and baseball fans deeply.

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer even released a statement after the statue was defaced, saying:

“Defacing the Jackie Robinson statue is a dagger in the heart to everything America stands for, and I hope those who are responsible are caught, punished and taught why what they did is so disgusting and offensive.”

Other New Yorkers have expressed similar upset to the statue being defaced, and clothing ling The 7 Line said on Facebook:

“There’s a $1,500 reward for tips to convict the scum who defaced the Jackie Robinson statue in Coney Island. We’ll match that. Email us with info if you know who had a hand in this cowardly act. We’ll keep your identity confidential. Do the right thing.”

Mets owner Fred Wilpon lamented:

“It took years to get that (statue) done… You think about Pee Wee and Jackie and what that moment said and what it meant. And now for this to happen?”

The Daily News is offering a $10,000 reward to find out who defaced the statue of Jackie Robinson, in addition to the $3,000 in rewards mentioned above.