FLATBUSH, Brooklyn — A statue of George Floyd in Brooklyn was found vandalized on Thursday morning, less than a week after it was unveiled as part of a Juneteenth rally.
Vandals sprayed black paint onto the 6-foot-tall sculpture at Nostrand and Flatbush avenues. On the pedestal, they painted a URL that appears to be associated with a white nationalist hate group.
Floyd, a Black man, died on May 25, 2020, after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly 10 minutes.
The pedestal of the statue honoring him was created with a quote from his brother on it.
“Pay attention and continue to keep my big brother’s name ringing in the ears of everyone,” the quote from Terrence Floyd reads.
The pedestal was covered after the vandalism was discovered.
The George Floyd statue will be cleaned, according to Lindsay Eshelman, co-founder of Confront Art, which produced the statue.
“The statue was completely defaced,” she said. “We’re devastated because this art meant so much more than just George Floyd, it meant a movement. It was a tribute to his family and it was a tribute to his community.”
There had been requests from the community for Confront Art to bring the statue there, Eshelman said.
“I’m not shocked that this happened to the statue, I’m shocked that this happened in this area,” she said.
Police said the vandalism would be investigated as a hate crime.
No arrests have been made.
Later on Thursday is follows Newark Public Safety confirming that the statue of Floyd in Newark, a gift to the city, had also been vandalized overnight Wednesday.
