Bill Donohue comments as follows:
Last Thursday evening, September 27, I was barred from entering the Edward Tyler Nahem gallery that was hosting the Andres Serrano “Piss Christ” piece.
The gallery said that when protesters tried to push pass the guards, the police were called and showed up to monitor the situation; the same gallery officials said that Serrano went outside to talk to me, but that I refused to engage him. All of this is a lie.
A reporter for the New York Times spoke to Serrano and he admitted that the two of us never met. She called the police and they confirmed that no one from the gallery called them. We had called the police prior to the press conference, and some showed up at 6:22 p.m. after the press conference ended (it began at 5:25 and was over at 6:00 p.m.); this was also after the confrontation in the building’s lobby (it started immediately after the press conference).
So on these two issues—Serrano and me meeting and the cops showing up in response to trouble—the evidence shows that the gallery lied. Still in contention is the gallery’s position that protesters barged into the building; I contend that we sought to enter the lobby but did not force our way past security. To see exactly what happened, click here.
In other words, we are dealing with a prominent gallery in a high-rent district of Manhattan that promotes bigotry, censors its critics, and lies to the press.
To send the gallery a message, contact: info@etnahem.com
