Since 2001, a seven-foot-tall bronze statue of Joe Paterno has stood outside Penn State’s Beaver stadium, showing the coach triumphantly leading the Nittany Lions on to the gridiron. The statue fit with Paterno’s legend in Happy Valley: A goodhearted and decent leader of men, who inspired not only the players on his team, but the entire Penn State community.
But with investigator Louis Freeh’s report condemning Paterno for turning a blind eye to the sexual abuse carried out his former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky since 1998, the statue now seems a symbol of something else — the lionization of a coach and his football program to such an extent that the Penn State brass agreed it was better to let child abuse go unreported than to risk damaging that program’s reputation.
With Paterno’s legacy tainted, presumably should Penn State remove the statue? Or would that be the same as sweeping the scandal under the rug? We took to Twitter to find opinions:
The Joe Paterno statue — The Twitter debate
As rumors of the Freeh report leaked out, national sports journalists weighed on on the topic of the statue:
Joe Paterno’s statue needs to be drug down at State College. Just a pathetic individual to let this happen. #PSUDeathPenalty
— Matt Couch (@HSRMattCouch) July 12, 2012
Not sure the NCAA will do or feels like it can do anything with Penn State, but pretty sure the Paterno statue has to come down.
— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) July 12, 2012
Imagine what a statement Penn State would make if they took Paterno’s statue down this afternoon.
— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) July 12, 2012
Once the report had been officially released, Twitter wags unleashed some dark humor:
Do you just remove Joe Paterno’s statue, or melt it down into 3 smaller “See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil” Joe Pa’s?
— Peyton’s Head (@PeytonsHead) July 12, 2012
I understand the push to tear down Paterno’s statue. But in fairness: the statue did more to protect kids than Joe Paterno did.
— SportsPickle (@sportspickle) July 12, 2012
Penn State should keep the Joe Paterno statue. Just move it so he is looking the other way.
— Michael Rosenberg (@Rosenberg_Mike) July 12, 2012
The reaction from the wider Twitter world so far, has been nearly unanimous. The statue needs to go:
Poll Results (1st 230 votes): Should Penn State take JoePa’s statue down? 87.3% YES, 12.7% NO.
— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) July 12, 2012
They shouldn’t tear down Joe Paterno’s statue, just place a statue of the word ‘responsibility’ behind it.
— Michael Nettis (@Magnettis) July 12, 2012
I will personally boycott anything Penn State related until that statue of Joe Paterno comes down.
— Victor P. Hall (@VictorHall317) July 12, 2012
They need to take the fucking Joe Paterno statue down
— Ryan Lionel(@TheCryinRyno) July 12, 2012
Reactions from the Penn State community, though, are more ambivalent:
Hope I get my degree before they burn Penn State to the ground..
— Adam Miller (@jadammiller2) July 12, 2012
It hurts me to say this, but Paterno’s statue should come down at least for now and the library should be renamed.#PSU #PENNSTATE
— VJ (@VJDEADPOOL) July 12, 2012
If dey knock down Joe Paterno statue dey jus petty af one fuck up dey tryin to tear ur legacy apart
— Mr. Snapback 2 Yu (@Yu_ALreaDYKnO) July 12, 2012
If your first reaction to this entire mess is to take down a statue, you should really re-evaluate that idea.
— Eric Feinstein (@ericjfeinstein) July 12, 2012
Keep #Paterno statue. It’s about what he stood for, not his mistakes.
— Alex Wolford (@BigBadWolfie91) July 12, 2012
Curley, Schultz, and Spanier should all go to jail, and the Paterno statue should come down. And that’s the last thing I’m gonna say.
— Sean (@SMM0606) July 12, 2012
Wondering how many of the people calling to take down the JoePa statue and suspend our fball team have actually read the #Freeh report. #PSU
— Eileen McGinley (@lebronDIVAjames) July 12, 2012
