Image of ‘statue of Roald Dahl’ is a work of satire

Multiple Facebook accounts are sharing an image which they claim shows a statue of children’s author Roald Dahl that is set to go on display at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to mark 100 years since the publication of his first book. 

The image, which shows an apparent statue of a smiling man sitting alongside two young children, has been the subject of debate on various social media platforms because the man bears a resemblance to notorious sex offender Jimmy Savile. 

However, no such statue exists. The image has been created using artificial intelligence (AI), and is intended as a work of satire. In any case, Mr Dahl’s first book was published in 1943, meaning the 100-year anniversary is not until 2043. 

The image was first published two years ago by a Reddit user in a group dedicated to “weird” creations using AI under the title: “Statue of Jimmy Savile”. It was one of a number of images of the disgraced entertainer, but all have since been removed by the moderators of that group.

Last month the image was posted by a Facebook page which describes itself as: “A news page for people who like a laugh. Nothing on this page is serious. Parody account.”

The caption on the image reads: “A statue of Roald Dahl is to be erected at Yorkshire Sculpture Park to mark 100 years since the beloved author published his first book.

“One local commented: ‘As it ‘appens the people of Bretton absolutely love these books. They’re classics. All the guys and gals welcome this statue, it’s a great addition’.”

While some of those sharing, reposting or commenting on the image appear to understand that this is satire, it seems that others do not. Though fact checking such posts may seem trivial, it is an important part of our work, as this article explains. 

Publishing a fact check about this sort of claim allows us to clear up the confusion in very practical ways. Our fact check appears in search engine results, meaning if someone is unsure about a claim and Googles it, they can immediately see the answer. 

Other media outlets have also written about the fake Roald Dahl statue, and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park has since told the PA news agency: “The ‘story’ and images are AI generated fakes that just serve as poor click bait. It has no association whatsoever with Yorkshire Sculpture Park.”