Artist Creates Philip Seymour Hoffman Inspired Heroin Shooting Oscar Statue in Hollywood

With the Academy Awards just around the corner, an 8-foot-tall gold mannequin resembling an Oscar with a syringe in its arm was found on display at Hollywood Boulevard on Friday morning.

Artist 'Plastic Jesus' was inspired to create the sculpture following the death of the late great actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. He engraved the statue with the phrase “Hollywood’s best kept secret” in an effort to break the stigma attached to drug use. Plastic Jesus also told LA Weekly that his cousin and his cousin’s wife died from overdosing on drugs.

After a threat from a city official and bad weather conditions forced the artist to take the sculpture down, Plastic Jesus plans to bring it back tomorrow just in time for The Oscars.

[via Variety]