"There's Someone Inside": Hundreds Gather to Push Sculpture, Only to Find It Was an Online Joke

About 250 People Gather in Chicago to Try Pushing a 110-Ton Sculpture
"It Was Fun Even Though the Sculpture Didn't Move"

A meme claiming that someone was trapped inside the giant bean-shaped sculpture, a famous tourist attraction in Chicago, spread online, prompting hundreds of people to gather and try to push it.

Online joke becomes reality... Hundreds gather to push 110-ton sculpture

The large sculpture "The Bean." Shutterstock

According to the Daily Mail and other outlets on November 10 (local time), people gathered in downtown Chicago's Millennium Park on the afternoon of November 8 to try to move the sculpture "The Bean." They joined forces to shift it 7 inches (about 18 cm) to the left. Video filmed at the scene showed the crowd chanting, "Push the Bean." Despite several attempts, however, the 110-ton sculpture did not budge.

The event came about when an online joke led to a real-life gathering. Flyers encouraging people to participate were also posted around downtown Chicago. One flyer read, "We need to move the Bean 7 inches to the left. The first push is at 12:47 p.m. on November 8, 2026."

Event organizers also said, "There may be a door with a lock on the lower right side of the sculpture," and added, "Moving the sculpture could allow us to deliver necessities, such as pickles, to the man trapped inside."

Participant: "A chance to build community bonds and meet new people"

A flyer calling for “The Bean,” a sculpture in Chicago, to be moved. Facebook

Saniya Whaley, a first-year student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, said up to 250 people attended the event. "I was scrolling through Instagram and saw a post inviting people to gather at Millennium Park to push The Bean 7 inches to the left," she said. "It gave me something to do today. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have left my dorm."

Whaley also said the event was a fun opportunity to meet new people. "Everyone knew the sculpture wasn't actually going to move," she said. "I think events like this help people build stronger bonds within their community." She added, "A small shared interest like trying to push The Bean can bring a lot of people together," and said it "brought great joy to the people who were there."

Started with a meme about a fictional man trapped inside The Bean

The Bean is a work by Indian-born sculptor Anish Kapoor, installed in Grainger Plaza in Chicago's Millennium Park. It was created between 2004 and 2006 and is nicknamed "The Bean" because of its bean-like appearance.

The sculpture, which draws about 20 million visitors each year, also made headlines in 2025 when a joke called "Man in the Bean" spread online. At the time, Chicago City Council member Brendan Reilly said his office had been inundated with calls asking whether someone was trapped inside the sculpture. In a statement, Reilly said, "I am pleased to confirm that no one is trapped inside The Bean." Earlier this year, a related mockumentary—a work that presents a fictional scenario in documentary form—was released on YouTube.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.