Lakers majority owner Jeanie Buss said the people who are vandalizing LeBron James murals in the Los Angeles are are not actually Lakers fans on Sunday. “I didn’t realize how many people from Boston are living in LA,” she said, according to Mark Willard of Fox Sports.
. @JeanieBuss on those defacing LeBron murals in LA:
— Mark Willard (@Mark_T_Willard) July 22, 2018
"If you're doing that, than you're not a Laker fan. I didn't realize how many people from Boston are living in LA!"
Artists in the Los Angeles area have painted two stunning LeBron James murals since the legend decided to bring his talents to the Lakers earlier in the month, and now both have been vandalized.
The first was an image of James in a Lakers jersey with the words “The King of L.A.” written behind him.
Unfortunately, it didn’t last long. In several instances, someone took yellow paint to the mural or wrote words criticizing James over it.
Well that didn't last long smh pic.twitter.com/Jjq0rrEM43
— LWOS LA Lakers (@LWOSLALakers) July 8, 2018
Eventually the artist himself permanently painted over it.
The artist who painted the LeBron Mural in LA (@never1959) painted over it because it kept being vandalized. Smh LA ♂️ pic.twitter.com/6lva7480wG
— NBA Lowdown (@NBALowdown) July 11, 2018
More recently, another James mural was brought to life with The King looking up at a number of Laker greats including Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
“The King Becomes The Witness”
— Super DJ Chris Armenta (@SuperDJCA) July 19, 2018
Amazing new mural in LA!
Time to earn your seat at the table @KingJames #Icons #Legends #Showtime #Lakers @Lakers @JeanieBuss @MagicJohnson @kobebryant @kaj33 @SHAQ pic.twitter.com/HJKvhrAQYg
That didn’t last either. On Saturday, it was discovered that this mural was also vandalized with white paint over James’ body.
I went to visit the mural with one of my bestfriends @jamtjohnson and this was what we saw first thing this morning. Haters have struck again. pic.twitter.com/oOCwF8lZ7C
— ThatHollywoodGuy (@Diehardheatfan1) July 21, 2018
The good news is that the artist had help from fans to paint over the damage:
And today the mural’s artist, Gustavo Zermeno, fixed it with some help from Lakers fans. Gus’ original hope with the message of the mural was that it “overpowers people’s hate for LeBron.” Today some fans helped restore the art. Gus said, “Laker fans got my back!” pic.twitter.com/pd322rB7Zl
— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) July 21, 2018
Please stop doing this, people of L.A. This artwork takes time, and it looked stunning. Just tweet out your LeBron hate instead.