LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Of late, an old photo of Leonardo DiCaprio has been making the rounds of the internet. Usually, in such cases, fans can’t seem to get enough of the old photos of their favorite stars. But this photo is different and thus elicits a slew of negative responses from the ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ star’s fans. Fans are not happy as the decades-old photo of the ‘Titanic’ star holding a “pickled punk” resurfaced.
A Twitter user named Dom Lucre shared the photo of a young DiCaprio holding the glass jar containing a deformed fetus preserved in formaldehyde. Underneath, it’s written in the description, “DiCaprio is seen holding a “pickled punk”, a malformed fetus named Junior preserved in a jar belonging to artist Joe Coleman. Coleman bought Junior from a Carney and keeps him in his “Odditorium” along with other bizarre artifacts and art pieces.” While many fans seemed to have been confused by the photo, others reacted vitriolically to the same.
What is the truth behind the picture?
The decades-old photo seemed to have been taken in the museum of Joe Coleman where hundreds of other odd objects are kept. One Twitter user described it in one 2020 post, “Picture taken in the Odditorium a private museum owned by Joe Coleman. Pickled Fetuses were common in Victorian times, this ones called Junior.” Coleman’s ‘Odditorium’ houses various odd objects which he has collected from all over the world.
In an interview with Susanne Pfeffer, curator of an exhibition at KW Institut, Coleman revealed the origin story of the baby in the glass jar. He got the piece when he was visiting the Coney Islands in the mid-eighties. A man there called him and asked, as per Coleman, “Ay, you wanna buy a pickled punk?”” The acclaimed artist then elaborated, “I knew that a “pickled punk” is Carney. Carney is slang used by guys who work at a carnival. A pickled punk is Carney slang for a baby, a deformed baby in a jar. So I knew what he was saying. It sounds interesting and he takes me behind this canvas banner and he pulls out little Junior over here.”
Coleman, who takes pride in his collection of artifacts from crime museum, pathology museum, sideshows, etc., continued, “And of course I fell in love with him as soon as I saw him and I paid the man exactly whatever he wanted and I took little Junior home on the subway—of course, we got a lot of stares—and Junior has had an honored place ever since.” The artist not only brought the artifact home, but also considered him as his “alter ego” and “son”. He said, “He is like my alter ego, he’s my son. It’s funny because he represents a more positive or optimistic side of my personality. That deformed little guy there—he’s so happy.”
In another article published by Vice, another theory has been propounded. While they have noted that Junior has now a well-lit shelf all to himself, there is a possibility that the preserved fetus might just be a "bouncer," or the wax or gutta-percha re-creations made in order to avoid the law against moving bodies between states.
'Shame on him'
A social media user could not contain their surprise as they wrote, "Oh dear, is that photo for real... and what's in the jar?" Another questioned, "What is in that man’s jar?"
Someone else related the incident to Leonardo DiCaprio dating younger women saying, "He’s dating a girl 20+ years younger. He’s never grown up." Another castigated Hollywood for its "depravity." Looking at DiCaprio's expression in the photo, one fan seemed to remark, "I can't imagine Leonardo Di Caprio making a joke or doing something funny. There is no element of humour to any of his characters. Dude seems drastically unfunny." Another netizen went a step further as they said, "I’ve always thought something happened to him. It doesn’t make sense for an almost 50 year old man to be dating 18 year olds."
Saying DiCaprio is "creepy", another netizen put forward a theory of his connection with a secret club, "Well, he’s a creepy one for sure! That fetus maybe a ghoulish novelty prop they sold back in the 1990’s.But,it’s no secret Leonardo likes his girls as young as possible & Ricky Gervais joked about DiCaprio’s date expiring his age limit at the Oscars! His connection to Club of Rome!" Another was "sad" after seeing the disturbing picture, "I was sad to see that he is part of the mess this world is now in. Shame on him."
This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.
