A New York-based sculptor is broke after spending his money to make a life-size sculpture of Charlie Kirk that no one wants to buy.

Sergio Furnari told The Guardian that he spent $100,000 on steel, resin, and labor, hoping that wealthy people would donate to him or even purchase the statue, but so far the only people who have reached out are those telling him they plan to urinate on the sculpture.

“I was thinking that it was going to resonate with the world, with whoever, but man, people are strange out there,” he said. “Meaning like, nobody is really coming up with support, especially financial support. So far I’ve spent all my money on this.”

Furnari, who was hoping to raise “millions” off the sculpture, has now resorted to setting up an online fundraiser to recoup his losses. Of the $150,000 requested, he has managed to raise around $2,000.

“Things financially are a total, absolute nightmare. It’s like wow. People are cheap, man. You know, people talk, talk – I know lots of people out there, and everybody’s so cheap. You know, like, it’s disgusting how cheap they are,” he told the outlet.

To make matters worse, Furnari broke his foot while working on the sculpture and now wonders whether the piece is “cursed.”

Kirk, a far-right activist, podcaster and founder of Turning Point USA, was killed last September in Utah. He has a history of making incendiary and often racist and sexist comments.

Despite spending his money to make a life-size sculpture of the far-right activist, Furnari claims he wasn’t always a fan of Kirk.

“One thing that I couldn’t stand about him while he was alive [was] when he was talking about Palestine. [Kirk would say]: ‘Oh no, Palestine doesn’t exist.’ I thought: ‘Well, this guy must be out of his mind,’” Furnari said.

He gave The Guardian several reasons for making a sculpture of someone he didn’t always agree with, including “to glorify and to exercise the First Amendment, this freedom of speech,” to support Kirk’s widow; to “glorify democracy”; and to “commemorate a person”.

“Why am I making the statue? The same reason why Michelangelo did the Pietà, or Michelangelo did the David, or Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa. Why? Just to commemorate a moment, you know, a person,” he added.

Furnari plans to display the sculpture in Times Square in September on the first anniversary of Kirk’s death in a last-ditch attempt to secure support for his project.