Iconic Vj-Day Kiss Statue In Sarasota Tagged With #MeToo Day After Sailor Passes
Just one day after WWII sailor George Mendosa passed away, a statue in Sarasota, Florida, commemorating the iconic kiss was vandalized with #MeToo spraypainted on the statue leg.
While the photo was deemed as romantic and iconic for years, in recent ones, the speculation came about if the kiss was even welcome.
Greta Zimmer Friedman passed away at 92 in 2016, but said before of the kiss, “I did not see him approaching, and before I know it I was in a tight grip.”
Mendosa had also said later on in life that he had been drinking prior to the kiss and did it without asking for consent. Gretta did reunite with George a few times over the course of their lives but never appeared to be too upset by the whole ordeal.
During an interview in 2005, she said, “It was just somebody really celebrating. But it wasn’t a romantic event. It was just an event of ‘thank God, the war is over, kind of thing because it was right in front of the sign.”
