London mayor Sadiq Khan says people are welcome to look at a giant balloon mocking him in a yellow bikini which will fly over Parliament Square this weekend.
Organiser Yanny Bruere claims crime in the capital has sky rocketed ‘to unprecedented levels’ under the mayor’s leadership and the balloon design recalls his decision to ban an Underground advert of a model in 2016.
But Mr Khan told ITV London: ‘If people want to spend their Saturday looking at me in a yellow bikini they’re welcome to do so, I don’t really think yellow’s my colour, though.’
He allowed a similar blimp of Donald Trump to fly over the capital during the US president’s visit last month.
London mayor Sadiq Khan says people are welcome to look at a giant balloon mocking him in a yellow bikini (pictured) which will fly over Parliament Square this weekend
Organisers have raised more than £58,000 for the 29ft blimp as part of a campaign seeking to remove Mr Khan from his post.
A Crowdfunder page set up by Mr Bruere, who describes himself as a free speech advocate, says: ‘In light of the Donald Trump ‘Baby Trump’ balloon being allowed to fly over London during his visit to the UK, let’s get a ‘baby Khan’ one and see if FREE SPEECH applies to all and whether or not Mr Khan and the London assembly will also approve this.
‘Under Sadiq Khan, we have seen crime sky rocket to unprecedented levels. People in London don’t feel safe and they aren’t safe, 81 murders this year alone! Khan Out.
‘Any surplus money raised will be used for a continuing campaign to remove Sadiq Khan from office and also for defending free speech which is constantly under attack.’
Mr Khan (pictured) allowed a similar blimp of Donald Trump to fly over the capital during the US president’s visit last month
It is understood that the balloon will fly over Parliament Square on Saturday from 9.30am to 11.30am.
In 2016, Mr Khan announced that Transport for London would not allow adverts on its network which could create body confidence issues, following a storm over a protein shake poster which featured a model posing in a yellow bikini and asked ‘Are you beach body ready?’
A spokeswoman for the mayor said: ‘The City Hall ‘city operations’ team has spoken with the organisers of this balloon and given permission for them to use Parliament Square Garden.
‘As always, City Hall has been working in very close co-ordination with the Metropolitan Police and other key agencies to ensure this protest is able to be carried out in a safe and secure way.’
The crowdfunding campaign hit its target after a week of heavy promotion in July, as Mr Trump prepared to visit the UK.
Fox News and Russia Today covered the campaign, as did conspiracy site InfoWars and Tommy Robinson’s former employers The Rebel Media.
Other early supporters included Katie Hopkins and American anti-Muslim activist Pamela Geller.
Links to the campaign featured in pro-Trump internet groups like The-Donald and TheMAGANetwork on Reddit and a Facebook group for conspiracy theorists, QAnon.