Providence, Rhode Island’s Mayor Brett Smiley has once again criticized a now-canceled mural project meant to honor Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee who was tragically murdered last year. This whole situation, he says, has been twisted into a political mess, especially with a million-dollar funding boost from Elon Musk for similar murals nationwide. It’s a real shame how everything these days seems to get caught up in political drama, making even a tribute to a lost life controversial.
According to Fox News, the mural was planned for the exterior of The Dark Lady, an LGBT bar in the city. Iryna Zarutska was killed on August 22 after she was randomly stabbed from behind on a light-rail train in Charlotte. The suspect in her unprovoked murder is Decarlos Brown Jr., who had a lengthy rap sheet, including convictions for larceny, breaking and entering, and armed robbery. He had previously served five years in prison.
Mayor Smiley expressed his regret about the current state of politics, stating that “absolutely everything is political and controversial and hard.” He pointed out that while nothing should detract from the tragedy of Zarutska’s death, the mural project was “distorted by an erroneous tweet by our president and then a movement was funded by some right-wing billionaires, and it found its way to our community.” Elon Musk, for example, contributed $1 million to help fund a nationwide campaign of public murals depicting Zarutska, which is quite the hefty sum.
It stopped being about her and became about everyone else
The mayor decried the project for not following an unspecified “thoughtful process” that the city typically uses to commission public art, even though this particular mural was privately commissioned for a private business. “A private owner of a building decided to put a mural up that I don’t think he understood the full context of,” Smiley explained in an interview. He added that he was asked if he thought it should come down, and he believed it should.
He maintains that he didn’t stifle anyone’s speech, as it was the owner’s decision to continue or take it down. Smiley emphasized that the mural wasn’t bringing the community together, instead leading to “really angry protests on both sides, a lot of hate speech online.” He concluded that the community wasn’t stronger or more united because of the mural, so taking it down seemed like the best course of action. Earlier this week, the mayor released his first statement on the mural, calling it “divisive” and “misguided.”
He acknowledged Zarutska’s murder as a devastating tragedy but reiterated that “the misguided, isolating intent of those funding murals like the one across the country is divisive and does not represent Providence.” He added that he wants to “encourage our community to support local artists whose work brings us closer together rather than divide us.”
The Dark Lady initially defended the project against backlash, especially from the LGBT community. They posted on Instagram, saying, “Any of you who know us personally, even just for five minutes, realize the illicit intentions being portrayed here are completely false.” However, the intense heat continued, and the bar soon released a statement saying the project was being “temporarily” paused.
After “reflecting and learning,” the bar officially shut down the project, marking the end of what became a very contentious art installation.
Published: Apr 3, 2026 02:45 pm