#More than 50K people want Robert E. Lee statue replaced with GWAR frontman

Oderus Urungus, the frontman of the band GWAR (portrayed by Dave Brockie) and the Robert E. Lee statue in Richmond, Virginia.
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More than 50,000 people have signed a petition to replace Richmond, Virginia’s statue of Robert E. Lee with a memorial to the late frontman of heavy metal band GWAR.

“Robert E. Lee is a failed war general that supported a racist cause. For too long, the city of Richmond has been displaying statues of him and other loser civil war veterans,” reads the Change.org petition, which had 50,247 signatures as of Tuesday night.

“We the scumdogs of the universe call on the city of Richmond to erect a statue of great local leader Oderus Urungus in its place,” it adds.

Oderus Urungus, an intergalactic barbarian and the lead singer of GWAR, was portrayed by Richmond musician Dave Brockie, who started the band in 1984. He died in 2014 of a heroin overdose.

“While Oderus comes from the planet Scumdogia, he called Richmond his home, working with the local art community and employing local artists and ladies of the night,” the petition states.

The band appears to support the petition, releasing a video of drummer Jizmak Da Gusha admiring the statue of the Confederate general — which was covered in graffiti during the last three weeks of Black Lives Matter protests.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam ordered the statue to be removed, but a lawsuit filed last week has put a wrench in the plans.