The real reason Russians tore down Steve Jobs’ monument

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Steve Jobs statue in Russia at its public unveiling Photo: RIA Novosti
Steve Jobs statue in Russia at its public unveiling Photo: RIA Novosti

Steve Jobs’ monument in Russia was torn down the day after CEO Tim Cook opened up about being gay last week. The incident was immediately blamed on homophobic Russians and the country’s anti-gay laws, but the school where the monument was destroyed, says that’s not actually what happened.

School officials told Russian news outlets today that the iPhone statue was removed for a reason any Apple fan can relate to: its screen was broken.

In fact, the press service for the Saint Petersburg State University of Information Technologies insists that it was actually notified that the statue was going to be removed the day before Tim Cook came out publicly, because its screen sensor was faulty.

Students at the college also confirmed that the giant iPhone statue wasn’t working properly, and that its removal wasn’t a result of the country’s anti-gay laws that ban promoting “non-traditional sexual relationships” to people under age 18.

Tim Cook doesn’t actually make a appearance on the monument, which is about as tall as an average man, and displays videos and texts of Steve Jobs on its bigger than big display. The university hasn’t said if the monumnet will be reinstalled soon, but the head of the company that owns it said he wouldn’t be against reinstalling it, as long as it sends “a message to the US rejecting the use of Apple devices.”

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