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You are here: Home / Because Sometimes You Just Have to Send a Message

Because Sometimes You Just Have to Send a Message

by | 98 Comments

This post is in: 

middle-finger-statue-detroit

Why not:

Alan Markovitz, 59, a well-known strip club owner in Detroit and soon-to-be reality television star on Cinemax, is still rather upset his wife apparently had an affair with someone he knew two years ago.

So he decided to buy the house right next to the couple, and put up a giant middle finger statue aimed in their direction. Spotlights on the 12-foot-high bronze statue make sure it can be viewed at all hours, according to Deadline Detroit.

Someone seems bitter.

Reader Interactions

98Comments

  3. 3.

    Violet

    What’s on the other side of it–the side not pointing toward the neighbor? Looks like it’s something else, so the guy doesn’t have to view the finger from his own porch.

  8. 8.

    JustRuss

    What are the chances that “a well known strip club owner” never cheated on his wife? Because, you know, it’s usually the straight-and-narrow types that get into the strip-club business.

  10. 10.

    beltane

    I’m not so sure about the message being sent. The couple being targeted might be having the last laugh at the cuckolded man. If being happy is the best revenge, this is not good revenge.

  11. 11.

    jayboat

    One of his partners is a good friend. Alan is usually at the parties.
    He’s had a ‘colorful’ life to say the least. Reality-worthy.

  12. 12.

    BarbCat

    Just off the top of my head, I would counter with a 4 x 4′, white all-weather board bedazzled with the the phrase “EVERY NIGHT” in blinking brite white lights, aimed directly at his sculpture [and windows]. An alternative would be “CUCKHOLD —–>” with the arrow directed at his place.

  16. 16.

    Tara the Antisocial Social Worker

    Lemme guess: the reality show is called “Why can’t I get women to like me?”

  17. 17.

    Mark B.

    It was very considerate of him to design it so that the backside doesn’t give the same message, so his neighbors on the other side don’t get the same message. I’m just wondering what happens to this after he’s done with his little hissy. Maybe Banksy could buy it and repurpose it into something more interesting.

  18. 18.

    Spaghetti Lee

    Question 1: Does he live in the house, or is he rich enough to buy it for that purpose alone?

    Question 2: Can you get that at a store or was it custom made? If so, I’d like to hear what the sculptor said when he first heard the specs.

  19. 19.

    TriassicSands

    Since it’s impossible from the outside to ever really know what goes on inside other couple’s relationships, it’s silly to try to attribute blame. However, my first thought was to grant that the woman in this case probably had plenty of reason to seek affection outside her marriage. I’ve always felt that it is better to avoid cheating, but when that seems like the best option, it probably should be preceded by divorce. That said, which means it’s no longer cheating. Anyone who is capable of buying a house and setting up such a sculpture out of a need for revenge was probably an ass long before the house, sculpture, and affair. Bitterness is a life-draining waste of time. Having to look at an ugly sculpture is probably a small price to pay for not having to share the same house with Markovitz.

  20. 20.

    maya

    Nay, we’ll go together down, sir.
    Notice Neptune taming a sea horse,
    Thought a rarity,
    Which Claus of Innsbruck
    Cast in bronze for me.

    (My Last Duchess – Robert Browning)

    Obviously, this kind of FUB has been done before. Usually with more style, though.

  21. 21.

    Redshirt

    Is the ex-wife an ex-dancer?

    Also, I have nothing against “exotic dancing”. I know a very smart (and sexy) woman who danced her way through Brown U. I’ve always been impressed by this.

  24. 24.

    dr. bloor

    The ultimate in futility. Can’t unfuck a spouse.

    If I were the target, I’d be hard pressed to keep myself from hanging a sign out my window that said “Yeah, Alan, that’s EXACTLY what I did.”

  25. 25.

    boatboy_srq

    Is this a copy of the Czech sculpture that’s remarkably resemblant?

    Interesting, too, how a 60-y/o guy whose business is T&A exotic entertainment and whose clientele are cheating husbands discerning gentlemen would be upset about his now-ex-wife’s activities and the lack of morals boundaries something in her lover.

  27. 27.

    YellowJournalism

    @boatboy_srq: This wouldn’t be a stunt to promote his show. Who would exploit their pain and hurt over a failed marriage like that…hahahahaha…nah, this is totally for the show. That, and maybe the ex is really happy and it drives him nuts.

  30. 30.

    srv

    What is BJ doing that keeps crashing FF? I only run adblock and wouldn’t do that if not for all the toe nail fungus.

  33. 33.

    Roger Moore

    @Redshirt:

    The reality show is on Cinemax? I assume… boobies?

    You’re obviously just a nasty, suspicious, lascivious person. There’s no other reason to assume that a Skinemax show about a strip club owner is just a cheap excuse to show nudity.

  35. 35.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @The Dangerman:

    Undisclosed location. VERY undisclosed…there’s fear that half the commandos in Europe have the mission to kidnap the war criminal and frog march his ass into The Hague.

  36. 36.

    Redshirt

    @srv: Cool. That’s been happening to me too, but only on certain threads. I just upgraded to FF 25.1. I couldn’t read the Kennedy thread yesterday as my browser crashed every time I tried reading it.

    Was there a video embed in that thread, anyone who read it?

  39. 39.

    Keith G

    Wow, a lot of judgement above.

    I agree with efgoldman. In some neighborhoods the message would have been shots fired. This is much better.

    And, if this helps to move through the coping process, there is nothing clown shoes about it.

  42. 42.

    Wil

    @Roger Moore

    Couldn’t he have spent the money on something more worthwhile, like hookers and blow?

    : He’s the owner of a strip club; he likely already has those things.

    Thumbs up for his sense of humor. More than I’d have.

  47. 47.

    Ash Can

    This guy could have saved a shitload of dough if he’d just had some two-bit tagger spray-paint dicks and obscenities all over the side of his house. And since that would only have to be painted over, rather than dug up and hauled off by a team of scrappers, it wouldn’t have lowered the property value as much on top of it.

  48. 48.

    GregB

    My brother owns a house in Rumford, Maine. Two houses over is a thin and very tall house which was apparently built by a foe of the old owner of my brother’s place in order to block the lovely waterfall view.

    They call it the Spite House.

  50. 50.

    Amir Khalid

    @Ash Can:
    Ah, but then it wouldn’t have been the grand gesture he wanted to make, now would it? As a businessman smart enough to build an empire of three strip joints, he probably worked out that he could afford the financial hit from the lowered property value. And being in that business, behaving with class might not be a major consideration for him.

  51. 51.

    BarbCat

    @beltane: Fascinating. Had to look it up:

    “…wearing the horns of a cuckold” or just “wearing the horns”. This refers to a tradition claiming that in villages of unknown European location, the community would gather to collectively humiliate a man whose wife gives birth to a child recognizably not his own. According to this legend, a parade was held in which the hapless husband is forced to wear antlers on his head as a symbol of his wife’s infidelity.”

  57. 57.

    shelly

    Alan Markovitz, 59, a well-known strip club owner in Detroit and soon-to-be reality television star on Cinemax, i

    Hmmm, is he related to Rob Ford, perchance?

  58. 58.

    shelly

    Does he live in the house, or is he rich enough to buy it for that purpose alone?

    Really. The strip-club business must be pretty lucrative. Maybe the pole-dancers have to share their tips with him.

  61. 61.

    BarbCat

    @kc: and tomorrow is my 20th wedding anniversary. But really, infidelity is not one of our problems, as far as I know.

  62. 62.

    Roger Moore

    @shelly:

    Maybe the pole-dancers have to share their tips with him.

    I’m sure they do, unless they’re officially classified as independent contractors who have to pay him for time in the club. I think it can be handled either way.

  63. 63.

    GregB

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):

    Touche’.

    Also, speaking of spite, the summer of 2001 a really crazy marital break-up occurred in the next town over from me, in Amherst, NH.

    An embittered husband who had been served a restraining order 12 hours earlier went to the local airport and got into his plane, flew over Amherst and found his house and corkscrewed that sucker into his $750,000 home. Killing himself and burning the house to the ground.

    I don’t know if it was ever determined that he was trying to kill his estranged wife(she wasn’t in the house at the time of the crash), but it would be criminal not to speculate.

    Suicide by plane    .(Scroll down to Amherst, NH.)

  69. 69.

    MomSense

    Sorry to change the subject (not) but I decided that next Saturday I will break the veggie diet for fish sticks and custard. Apologies to the Doctor, but we will eat them separately because combined is just gross. Since I’m a newWho, are there any other culinary delights I should add to my Who watching menu?

  76. 76.

    YellowJournalism

    The more I think about this, the more I think that statue would be right at home in John’s yard. When he’s pissed at us, all he has to do is take a blurry picture of it with his phone and post it.

  77. 77.

    At This Point I Am An Angry Black Woman

    Oh, I don’t know. He could’ve shot them both. This is a fairly mild response to infidelity if you ask me.

  78. 78.

    MomSense

    @MikeJ:

    Those recipes actually look good–especially those little Dalek cakes. May have to add a splash of something alcoholic to the sonic screwdrivers – and a celery garnish?

  79. 79.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @raven: Nope, as I noted last night, don’t do movies. On an unrelated note; I just put up the Holiday lights around the door. Now I just need a short extension cord to give em juice.

  80. 80.

    Roger Moore

    @MomSense:

    Since I’m a newWho, are there any other culinary delights I should add to my Who watching menu?

    The 4th Doctor was a big fan of jelly babies. From the new Who, you could always go for jammy dodgers.

  81. 81.

    Yatsuno

    @MomSense: And bananas. Don’t forget bananas. Lots of potassium!

    @MikeJ: Who party: I think the only real questions are where and who’s coming. Opie offered up her house but she has small TV. CaseyL has huge TV but no space. I have neither. I think Linnaeus was joining us as well. So we just pick a spot, spread the directions, order a few pizzas, and call it good.

  85. 85.

    MomSense

    @Roger Moore:

    I’ll go with the jammie dodgers as long as I don’t have to wear a fez.

    @Yatsuno:

    Need one healthy thing for this dinner!

    We may need our food goddess, Tamara and JeffreyW to assist with our Who parties.

  86. 86.

    seefleur

    @GregB:
    What is it with people with the surname of “Cheney”??? Chicken or egg question here… And I say that as someone who A) lives in Maine, and B) used to live in Wyoming.

  88. 88.

    M. Bouffant

    “I’m so over her,” Markovitz said Friday evening. “This is about him. This is about him not being a man.”

    A lot of projection & denial for just one paragraph.

  89. 89.

    catclub

    @Roger Moore: “Couldn’t he have spent the money on something more worthwhile, like hookers and blow?”

    I blew a fortune on liquor, fast cars, and fast women. The rest I wasted. — Some soccer great.

  91. 91.

    mzad

    Divorced man still looks angry so, I hate to say it, but she wins. He’s the one who wasted his money on this stupid gesture. The petty rich are endlessly entertaining.

  92. 92.

    Origuy

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Dancers are usually independent contractors. Pay the performance fee and keep the rest.

    After tipping the DJ, doorman, house mom (who manages the dressing room), it’s possible to go home negative.

  93. 93.

    Suzanne

    @efgoldman: I kinda like it, too. It’s childish and direct in a way that I always find charming, albeit grudgingly so. There’s something I appreciate about people just being straight up and public and bullshit-free about their grievances.

  95. 95.

    Sherparick

    @Baud: Two for the price of one? Probably will be able to write off the statute as a “prop” for the reality show.

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