The first flight of the Sadiq Khan blimp will be on September 1 in London. Photo / AP
The first flight of the Sadiq Khan blimp will be on September 1 in London. Photo / AP
Critics of London Mayor Sadiq Khan have been given permission to fly a giant blimp over the British capital that depicts him reclining in a yellow bikini.
Organiser Yanny Bruere has raised more than $75,000 through the Crowdfunder website for the 29-foot blimp as part of a campaign to oustKhan from his post. More than 3,000 supporters contributed to the donation.
The 47-year-old politician angered some people in London and elsewhere last month when he allowed a balloon caricaturing Donald Trump as an angry baby to float above the city while the US president was in the country.
The orange-hued 98-foot "Angry Baby" blimp clutching a mobile phone and wearing a giant diaper took flight over Britain's Houses of Parliament for two hours one morning during Trump's three-day visit in July, kicking off a day of widespread protests against the US leader.
The Trump 'Angry Baby' Blimp got the green light to fly during the US President's visit to the UK in July. Photo / AP
"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."
The bikini blimp is a reference to a series of Protein World adverts displayed on public transport across London in 2016. The ads depicted a woman in a yellow bikini with the slogan, "Are you beach body ready?".
Mayor Khan supported the removal of the ads.
Following its maiden flight this weekend, Bruere says he hopes to send the Khan blimp on a UK-wide tour with the extra money sourced from the crowd-funding page.