A Petition Is Calling For A Statue Of Columbus To Be Replaced With One Of Chef Boyardee
An online petition urging the Cleveland City Council to replace a statue of Christopher Columbus with a statue of Chef Boyardee has earned more than 2,500 signatures in support.
The petition, fittingly called "Replace the statue of Christopher Columbus in Little Italy with Chef Boyardee," specifically calls for a statue of Ettore (Hector) Boiardi, better known as Chef Boyardee, to replace Columbus because he is "a racist monster who initiated the genocide against indigenous Americans."
"If Italian-Americans in Cleveland want to celebrate one of their own, they need look no further than the iconic Ettore (Hector) Boiardi, AKA Chef Boyardee," the petition reads: "Born in Piacenza, Ettore immigrated to the U.S. at age 16 in 1914. He eventually moved to Cleveland, where he opened a restaurant, Il Giardino d'Italia, that was so popular people asked him to bottle his sauce for them."
"It's time for Cleveland to remove its statue to a genocidal sociopath with a bowl cut and erect a statue to an immigrant success story who enriched our community with his food and iconic mustache," the petition concludes.
The petition has 2,600 signatures as of this writing, and is aiming for 5,000, though Cleveland.com reports it "likely won’t have much traction at Cleveland City Council." Still, this isn't the only movement out of Ohio to replace a symbol of tribute to Columbus with a beloved food icon. A separate petition is calling for the capital city of Columbus, OH, to be renamed "Flavortown," an ode to everyone's favorite TV food host Guy Fieri, who was born in the city. It has more than 100,000 signatures.
Statues of Columbus have recently been removed in many places around the U.S., including just this morning in Columbus.
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