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LONDON: A statue of Michael Jackson dangling his baby son out of a hotel window has been erected in Britain, sparking anger Wednesday from die-hard fans of the late pop icon.
The life-sized sculpture, entitled “Madonna and Child”, depicts the notorious incident when the singer held his youngest son Prince Michael II out of the window in Berlin in 2002 in front of hundreds of shocked fans.
Fans of Jackson, who died in June 2009, were swift to condemn the work by Swedish-born artist Maria von Kohler, which is mounted in a window at The Premises Studios, a music studio in east London.
“Michael Jackson fans get angry because this is the kind of thing they have to deal with day in and day out - the slams, the lies, the tabloid mentality,”said one comment on the studio's website by a fan called Paul.
Another person posting on the site, called Layne4, blasted the work: “This 'creation' reflects ignorance, cruelty, lack of compassion.”
But the studio's chief executive Viv Broughton defended the sculpture, which he said was a “thought-provoking statement about fame and fan worship.”
The uproar came hot on the heels of controversy over a Jackson statue put up by Fulham chairman Mohammed Al Fayed at the London football club's Craven Cottage stadium.
Al Fayed, a tycoon who was a close friend of Jackson, has told fans of the club they can “go to hell” if they don't like the statue after critics said it resembled a toy action figure.
