13 funny things people said about the guys ‘defending’ the George Eliot statue in Nuneaton

John Plunkett. Updated June 16th, 2020

Well, it’s fair to say no-one saw this coming. A group of men was spotted apparently standing guard in front of a statue of George Eliot in Nuneaton, while a Black Lives Matter protest took place a short distance away.

That’s right. George Eliot.

Oh my god … they are … *rubs eyes* they really are guarding the statue of George Eliot in Nuneaton. pic.twitter.com/i7yiSEjZ46

— Helen Macdonald (@HelenJMacdonald) June 16, 2020

And it prompted no end of funny comments on Twitter, of which these are our favourite.

Do they think it's just ALL statues?

Oh god… They're All Statues Matter people.

— Damian W. (@damnwymz) June 16, 2020

EDL lads furious that the PC brigade replaced George Eliot's statue with a woman. https://t.co/9DEjVK0tSA

— John O'Farrell (@mrjohnofarrell) June 16, 2020

‘E’s called George. Got to be a good bloke!!

— Paul Bernal (@PaulbernalUK) June 16, 2020

To be fair the Jane Austen mob can get pretty rowdy

— J C (@JoolzCook) June 16, 2020

'If you don't like Middlemarch, I'll kick your facking head in.'' https://t.co/jsKdX52bSQ

— Matt Haig (@matthaig1) June 16, 2020

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Middlemarch is for losers and even Mrs Woodhouse could beat George Elliot in a fight.

— Bob (@oneshotbobby) June 16, 2020

– Where did you serve in the 2020 Lockdown Statue Wars?
– I was in the Literary Guard (Victorian Novelists Division) https://t.co/UYwW1CnT1t

— jennylandreth (@jennylandreth) June 16, 2020

'George's writing meant a lot to me. He got me through the custody hearings and a difficult time,' said one statue protector.

— DanC (@DanSeanClayton) June 16, 2020

They're protesting because the statue of George Eliot has been replaced by some woman. It's an antifa/Soros plot if ever I saw one.

— SteveM (@stevemaybury) June 16, 2020

10.

Eliot fans have been radicalised https://t.co/t1qgNmR06h

— Sathnam Sanghera (@Sathnam) June 16, 2020

11.

I see now that my book club is not nearly militant enough.

— Catherine Mitchell (@CathMitch14) June 16, 2020

12.

They were worried about the three planned marches that day, the larger left and right marches are going to demonstrate at statues of actual slavers. That one is the middle march.

I’ll get my coat.

— Dr Stu Eve (@stueve) June 16, 2020

13.

The Middle Marchers… https://t.co/KJXeiHOFdZ

— Tom Peck (@tompeck) June 16, 2020

To conclude …

Amazing. Not spent a second looking into why that statue was attacked, just assume all statues, no matter who they are, are in danger. That's what we're locked in with. https://t.co/EqzBez7Yen

— John Rain CBE (@MrKenShabby) June 16, 2020

Whatever next?

2023, the third year of the Statue War: having torn down all political, historical, cultural and literary statues, the rebels are pulling down those fibreglass Ronald McDonalds with the charity buckets, it's anarchy

— David Thomas Moore (@dtmooreeditor) June 16, 2020

Source @HelenJMacdonald