An organization claims there is a full-grown man living inside “the Bean.”
He utters no sound, but you can see him — when the sun hits the Bean’s silver skin in just the right way, they say.
The so-called Man in Bean Coalition claims Anish Kapoor, the British sculptor responsible for one of the city’s now best-loved attractions, “stole a baby and put that Baby inside of The Bean” when he created the artwork two decades ago.
As hundreds of thousands of Lollapalooza fans descended on Chicago last weekend, members of the coalition passed out flyers demanding the release of the now-grown man inside. They also shared videos online, including some that received hundreds of thousands of likes.
The posts urge people to contact Ald. Brendan Reilly, in whose 42nd Ward the shiny blob exists.
It’s unclear who is behind the group, which did not respond to multiple requests for comment this week. Kapoor also could not be reached for comment.
But Reilly, in his own statement in response, denied the group’s claims.
“I am happy to confirm that a man has not been trapped inside ‘Cloud Gate’ (a.k.a ‘the Bean’) for the past 21 years. In fact, the man was freed years ago. Further, we can neither confirm nor deny that Soldier Field is actually a flying saucer secretly relocated from Area 51 back in 2003,” Reilly’s office said in a statement this week.
And Reilly, while saying he appreciates the “lighthearted parody” from the Man in Bean Coalition, which now has some 29,000 followers on its Instagram page, said he would like the “online hoax” to stop.
Reilly’s office has experienced a recent “heavy uptick” in contacts about the Bean hoax, it says — a total of about 200 emails and phone calls concerning the sculpture in Millennium Park.
“Unfortunately, answering the heavy volume of calls regarding this hoax is ultimately a distraction for my office from the real work we do for the 42nd Ward and City of Chicago each day,” his office says.
On Thursday, though, the coalition posted another video doubling down on the hoax and urging its followers to help the cause get national attention. Chicago politicians aren’t doing enough to save the man, they said while claiming coverage of their protest has gotten things wrong.
“The media finally sees us,” they said, “but … Big Bean is lying to you.”