A Kansas 5-year-old was attending a wedding at a local community center with his family last month when he saw the "Aphrodite di Kansas City," a minimalist sculpture of a woman's upper body, and decided to give it a hug. Within moments, boy and statue alike were on the ground.
Several days later, the boy's mom got a letter from the insurance company of the city of Overland Park, which runs the community center, asking for $132,000 in damages. "It's clear accidents happen, and this was an accident," said the mother, Sarah Goodman. "I don't want to diminish the value of their art. But I can't pay for that."
The artist who made the Aphrodite says it is damaged beyond repair and that $132,000 was its price point before the accident. Goodman believes the damage was not serious — in surveillance camera footage, it is carried away apparently intact — and that it should have been better attached to its stand.
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"Our kids were well-supervised and well-behaved," she said. "Maybe my son hugged a torso because he's a loving, sweet nice boy who just graduated from preschool." Watch his very expensive hug below. Bonnie Kristian
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