A West Loop mural image of Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, was painted over Wednesday, as fallout over the Chicago native’s recent string of controversial and anti-semitic public statements earned him censure in his hometown.
The mural, which has faced West Lake Street near Morgan Street since 2021, had featured an 8-foot-high, photo-realistic painting of Ye over graffiti-styled text, designed by artist Peterson, who maintains office space in the West Loop.
Wednesday, at the request of the building’s owner and main tenant, MINIMAL Design founder and CEO Scott Wilson, Peterson painted over Ye’s likeness, leaving a solid black silhouette where Ye’s image once stood.
Wilson offered the space to his friend and former business neighbor Peterson after plans to paint the mural at another site fell through. A few days ago, Wilson said he reached out to the artist to ask about altering or removing the mural in response to Ye’s recent remarks.
“I said ‘Dude, we’ve got to do something,’ ” Wilson said Thursday. “It seems like a lot of things (Ye) has said over the years get dismissed as just his creative genius, but some things just cross the line. As a creative person, I understand that art is about free expression and a statement of beliefs, but some things just cross a line.”
Peterson declined to comment Thursday.
Wilson said he and Peterson discussed several ideas before Peterson settled on simply covering over Ye’s image in black paint.
“He showed up yesterday with a ladder and painted over it himself,” Wilson said.
very crazy i’m witnessing this right now.. they’re painting over the kanye mural in chicago pic.twitter.com/xC3xKDkFV7
— 🧷 (@RuTheTailor) October 26, 2022
The smell of paint still hung in the air Thursday morning as passersby walked in the shadow of the L tracks along Lake Street, few of them seeming to take note of the change.
Ryan Johnson, a Chicago native, had seen pictures of the mural being painted over on social media and left his West Loop office to snap a photo. Johnson had been a fan of Ye and his music until “about the last two or three years.”
“I approve [of covering over Ye’s image],” Johnson said. “Kanye is just being an a-----, and who’s going to want to support that? What he’s been saying lately is just wild and reckless, and who’s going to follow that?”
Michael Staley, who said he passed the mural almost daily during his commute, disagreed.
“It’s like they are trying to snuff him out. It’s all very one-sided, the public shame they’re putting on him,” Staley said. “You have a lot of people who say horrible things about Black people, and you don’t see them getting snuffed out.”
The mural cover-up came as sponsors and business partners rushed to sever ties with Ye, in moves that will affect multimillion-dollar ventures built around him. Athletic apparel giant Adidas announced the end of its partnership with Ye and his hugely successful Yeezy brand of footwear Tuesday. His private Donda School in California’s Simi Valley on Thursday was abruptly closed by school administrators amid the ongoing backlash, according to reports.
Also on Wednesday, Ye and his entourage were escorted from Skechers’ California headquarters “after a brief conversation” when they arrived “unannounced and without invitation,” according to The Associated Press. The shoe brand announced it had no intention to collaborate with Ye. Clothing retailer Gap
Both Instagram and Twitter had suspended Ye’s social media accounts in recent weeks, but on Thursday, his Instagram account was reactivated, and the rapper had restarted his postings.
One post called out Ari Emanuel (brother of former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel) and CEO of Endeavor, following the media mogul’s recent op-ed piece for the Financial Times in which he called on businesses to cut ties with Ye.
