Fox Business host Stuart Varney on Friday slammed a reported offer from the Guggenheim museum to give President Trump a gold toilet for the White House.
The “Varney & Co.” host said during a segment that it was a “direct insult” to Trump and first lady Melania Trump for the museum to counter the president’s request for a Van Gogh painting by offering the gold toilet.
“It’s a direct insult to the president and the first lady. It was a deliberate insult,” Varney said. “It’s not just a slap in the face for Trump, but it’s a slap in the face for the presidency and the country.”
Varney directly attacked the Guggenheim’s curator, Nancy Spector, who issued the response to the White House this week.
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“We are sorry not to be able to accommodate your original request, but remain hopeful that this special offer may be of interest,” Spector wrote in an email to the White House, according to The Washington Post.
“Spector is one of the elites, and she detests this president,” Varney said on his show Friday.
“This is how the New York elites treat this presidency — with contempt. The Kennedys and Obamas took their pick of paintings and rightly so. But the Guggenheim offers a toilet.”
“If Ms. Spector truly loves our beloved country, as she puts it, she should apologize and resign,” Varney said.
The piece, titled “America,” is an 18-karat, fully functioning toilet that was used as a temporary interactive exhibit in one of the museum’s bathrooms. The piece is seen as a critique on obscene wealth in the U.S.
The toilet’s creator, Maurizio Cattelan, said he “would like to offer it to the White House for a long-term loan,” The Washington Post reported Thursday.