
In March of 2021, the brain scientist, inventor, and national security advisor Newton Howard erected two Transformers statues of Bumblebee and Optimus Prime outside his home in the District of Columbia's Georgetown neighborhood. His neighbors were furious and demanded that he take them down. Howard refused.
"With an abundance of real issues in the world…[why were] two sculptures…at the center of debate by such high intellectuals and high-powered people?" he asks.