The coronavirus has killed more than 32,000 people in New York, and if you want a memorial poster, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has you covered. And he made it himself.
The governor took to Twitter on Monday evening to push what he called the “New York Tough” poster.
“The Sea of Division. The Boyfriend Cliff. The Sun On The Other Side. See it all for yourself,” Mr. Cuomo wrote.
The Sea of Division. The Boyfriend Cliff. The Sun On The Other Side. See it all for yourself.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) July 14, 2020
Pre-order the #NewYorkTough poster here:
The collage-style image on the poster, being hawked on the governor’s official state site, features an island in the shape of the COVID-19 disease curve … a steep climb followed by a sharp incline.
It resembles a Renaissance-style map with somewhat more-modern imagery, of a geographic space garlanded by images representing forces and events.
Among many others, there’s an image of a gusting wind, common in such maps, only here labeled as the “WH Task Force” blowing “Winds of Fear.” A man who looks like President Trump is sitting on a crescent-shaped moon labeled “It’s Just The Flu.”
In a statement on the governor’s site, Mr. Cuomo took full credit for the poster.
“I love history. I love poster art. Poster art is something they did in the early 1900s, late 1800s, when they had to communicate their whole platform on one piece of paper. Over the past few years I’ve done my own posters that capture that feeling. I did a new one for what we went through with COVID and I think the general shape is familiar to you,” he wrote.
The odd-looking poster sparked both puzzled reactions and outright fury even from Mr. Cuomo’s fellow Democrats.
State Sen. Zellnor Y. Myrie said he was “legit perplexed.”
“I mean this with 0% snark: how is this not wildly offensive? This is an artful monument to death and tragedy being sold by the state. I’m legit perplexed,” the Brooklyn Democrat wrote.
Other commentators were more pointed.
“I don’t see Nursing Homes of Death on here,” snarked one person.
And prominent Black activist Shaun King called out Mr. Cuomo’s handling of the virus as nothing to celebrate.
“Your inaction and infighting with the Mayor caused thousands of deaths. Nearly every expert in the nation says had you acted sooner it could’ve saved nearly 10,000 lives. That you think it’s time for posters touting your ‘success’ is troubling,” he said.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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