Councillor forced to deny bizarre speculation that man is TRAPPED inside huge sculpture

A US councillor has been forced to reassure his residents there is not a man trapped inside one of the area's landmark sculptures.

Alderman Brendan Reilly said his office has been swamped with calls from concerned localsafter a nonsensical rumour about the Chicago Bean emerged online.

The bizarre gossip even triggered a small protest outside thestainless steel artwork, with demonstrators shouting, "there is a man in the Bean", and "what do we want? The man to get out." In the leaflets they handed out, they told others that Chicago officials had been covering up the existence of the man for more than 20 years.

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They claimed that when "the light hits just right" you can see a "faint outline of a man" inside the opaque structure.

The hoax first emerged on Instagram on July 31 when the account shared a video of protesters calling on the artist to intervene.

They were heard saying: "We’re loud, we’re mean, there’s a man in the Bean! We’ll scream, we’ll shout—Anish Kapoor, let him out!”. The account quickly racked up 35,000 followers.

The sculpture was designed in the mid-2000s by Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor.

Mr Reilly said his office has been forced to divert attention to the rumours, which has prevented him with getting on with the proper work of running his word.

“I am happy to confirm that a man has not been trapped inside Cloud Gate (aka ‘the Bean’) for the past 21 years,” he said.

Mr Reilly continued: “I appreciate light-hearted parody as much as the next guy, and I’ve always welcomed public engagement.

“However, this online hoax has led to a heavy uptick in calls to my office. Unfortunately, answering the heavy volume of calls regarding this hoax is ultimately a distraction for my office from the real work we do for the 42nd Ward and City of Chicago each day.”

The Man in Bean Coalition is advising residents to put pressure on Mr Reilly to take action to free the man.

They included his office phone number on at least one of their leaflets.

In statements to local outlets, the group claimed its position was being misrepresented by "Big Bean Media.

“Our cohort of believers theorise that Kapoor built the Bean to be a one-way mirror.

"So that when we look at the Bean, we see our reflection… But the man inside the Bean looks out to see us all,” the group said.