Joe Paterno Looses Halo over Cover up on Child Sex Abuse
Artist Michael Pilato initially unveiled the mural "Inspiration" 12 years ago in downtownState College, Pa. Lately, he's had to make a few changes.
Photos by Nabil K. Mark and Abby Drey, Centre Daily Times via AP
On the left, the original mural depiction of Joe Paterno. On the right, the updated version.
Pilato made one Saturday, removing the halo over former football coach Joe Paterno amid Penn State's child sex abuse scandal. The artist had added the halo after Paterno's death in January.
On Thursday, the Freeh report implicated Paterno as "an integral part of the act to conceal" former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuses. Two days later,Pilato told NBC News that he "had no choice" but to paint over the halo.
Pilato added a large blue ribbon, instead, on Paterno's lapel symbolizing support for child abuse victims, a cause the artist said Paterno had endorsed.
Sandusky was convicted last month of 45 counts of child sexual abuse. Former FBI director Louis Freeh's 267-page report blasted a culture at Penn State where Paterno, President Graham Spanier, Athletics Director Tim Curley and Vice President Gary Schultz failed to properly address numerous allegations against Sandusky "to avoid the consequences of bad publicity."
"Sue Paterno had been quoted as saying Joe was not a saint. That made this difficult decision easier for me to execute," Pilato told NBC News.
While Pilato made the choice himself to alter the image of Paterno in his mural, the university has said there is no need for a timeline on any decisions to remove the late coach's name or image from the campus.
Pilato earlier removed Sandusky from the mural, which is 100 feet wide, 24 feet tall and depicts notable public figures from Penn State and the surrounding community, and replaced him with a large blue ribbon similar to one added to Paterno's suit.
Pilato told Reuters in a telephone interview Saturday that he still "think(s) Joe Paterno is an amazing human being. I think he made a major bad decision in his life,”
{at this point I have to interject and say he did not make one bad decision, but multiples of cover up. That required a renewal of decisions. He could have made it stop anytime his inner self bothered him. Obviously it never bothered him that much. Why? This thing of sex with minors in schools it’s been institutionalized. Those are the people that oppose gay anything..because they think we all like them. Dirty, Corrupt without morals. Adam Gonzalez }
Paterno was fired in November after 46 years and an NCAA Division I-record 409 wins as the Nittany Lions' head coach.
Reaction to the Freeh report was swift. Within hours of the report's release, Nike announced it was removing Paterno's name from the child development center on its Beaverton, Ore., campus.
"Really, it's been something I've been thinking about since I did it," Pilato told Reuters of the halo. "As a public artist, you've got to listen to the public and I started to hear the public, and I wish I hadn't put (the halo) up there to tell you the truth."
Spanier has not been charged as part of the scandal, but he was forced to step down as President. He remains at the school, though, as a professor of sociology and is depicted in Pilato's mural.
Pilato said he hasn't made a decision on Spanier's image, but the decision may have already been made for him.
"In the last two days, people have been throwing eggs on the Spanier section of the mural," he told NBC. "Maybe they are doing my work for me."
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