After a slew of upsetting headlines regarding DC’s decision not to allow the Jeffrey Baldwin Memorial to feature the iconic Superman “S” on it, news has hit today that DC has changed their decision and is allowing Baldwin’s memorial to feature the logo, thankfully.
We covered this in our daily Rundown, but yesterday the news came out that DC would not allow for their iconic Superman logo to be featured on the memorial statue of Jeffrey Baldwin, a 5-year-old boy who died in 2002.
Jeffrey’s story is an incredibly tragic one, as his teenage parents lost custody of him and his three siblings to the mother’s maternal grandparents, who deprived Jeffrey and one of his sisters of food and care, reportedly locking them in a dark room for 14 hours a day and mentally abusing the child. Jeffrey died of starvation and septic shock, and while the grandparents were convicted four years later of second-degree murder, that does very little while to ease the pain of a child’s life taken far too soon and under horrific conditions.
After an incredibly successful IndieGoGo campaign that raised over $36,000 with the help of Todd Boyce, a statue was funded to memorialize Jeffrey in a Superman costume, sculpted by Ruth Abernethy. Jeffrey’s father mentioned that Jeffrey was a big fan of the character, and that before custody of the child was taken away he used to love to dress up as Superman and attempt to fly around their home.
However, when it came to securing the rights to using the iconic logo, DC denied permission for the use of the logo, making for a lot of incredibly disheartening headlines and a slew of fairly bad press. DC is in the right to do with their IP as they wish, though it did leave a sour taste in many mouths — and it was decidedly the least Superman-esque thing to do in the situation.
Well, all is not grim and dark anymore, as DC has apparently changed their mind on the subject. In a statement released today (as covered by Robot 6):
We are honored by the relationship that our fans have with our characters, and fully understand the magnitude of their passion. We take each request seriously and our heartfelt thoughts go out to the victims, the family and those affected. DC Entertainment uses a flexible set of criteria when we receive worthy requests such as this, and at times have reconsidered our initial stance. After verifying the support of appropriate family members, DC Entertainment will be allowing the Jeffrey Baldwin Memorial Statue to feature the Superman S Shield.
And from Todd Boyce, who ran the IndieGoGo campaign,
Great news! DC honours both Jeffrey’s family and its fans! After further review – Jeffrey will don the S shield!
— Todd Boyce (@ToddBoyce96) July 9, 2014
Things like this are tricky from legal perspectives, and as Boyce told The Toronto Star, you could understand on some level that DC might not want this iconic logo associated with something as horrible as the pain and suffering inflicted on Jeffrey Baldwin. As Boyce noted to the Star, “It’s the image of a vulnerable boy dressed up as the most invulnerable character in the universe.” However, considering they released a film in which the iconic Superman “S” is stated to be a symbol of hope, it’s nice to see that a resolution could be reached for this situation.
The statue should be finished this summer, and will go up in Greenwood Park, Toronto, as a “symbol to everyone about how important it is to be diligent about reporting suspected instances of child abuse to prevent another needless death such as Jeffrey’s.”
