Providence artist says Musk-funded mural removal stifled free speech

A Providence, Rhode Island artist who was commissioned to paint a mural of murdered Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska said she felt her freedom of expression was curtailed after left-wing backlash against the project led to its closure.

“So we installed the mural, and as it began to develop, the gay community became very vocal about their displeasure with Elon Musk donating the project, and it escalated to an extremely high level, and as a result, the business owners decided to remove the mural,” Ian Gaudreau, who was working on the project before its sudden cancellation, told Fox News Digital.

“I was saddened that the mayor called for the removal of the work before I was allowed to finish my speech,” he said. “I think it stifles my freedom of expression, my freedom of speech, and that’s unfortunate.”

On August 22, Zarutska was stabbed to death in a random and unprovoked attack on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina. Shocking security camera footage of the incident shows suspect Decarlos Brown Jr. stabbing Zarutska in the neck and then calmly walking away covered in blood.

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The incident sparked a fierce political debate over criminal justice; Brown had navigated the criminal justice system for more than a decade, arresting 14 people and previously spending five years in prison.

Musk contributed $1 million to help fund a nationwide campaign for public murals depicting Zarutska.

Gaudreau explained that he was not taking political sides when he took the job to paint the mural.

A monument dedicated to Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, North Carolina, on September 11, 2025. (Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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“I think some people fail to see the work for what it is — because of the work I do — because they let their disdain for Elon cloud their judgment of the work itself, because the work itself is a response to the entire conversation,” he said.

He said he incorporated symbolism into his work, which was a critique of the political flashpoint caused by Zarutska’s death that he felt had overshadowed her memory.

“And in the painting, despite this stifling effort, she kind of shines through that. And that’s what I want to symbolize here: Iryna was a human being who had a mother and a father, who was still with us, and who was still grieving.”

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Iryna Zarutska cowers as her attacker towers over her on August 22, 2025. (NewsNation via Charlotte Area Transit System)

Gaudreau also said that her work was a response to how artworks depicting Zarutska and her artists were treated. A mural of the young woman was hung in early March. defaced in chicago.

“I’m doing this work in response, I’m publishing the entire speech,” he said. “I kind of have the advantage of being on the cutting edge of this project, because I’ve seen how these murals have been treated in the past. I’ve seen them defaced, I’ve seen my artist friends get dragged through the mud for choosing to paint it, and my work is a reaction to all of that.”

The mural was to be displayed on the exterior of The Dark Lady, an LGBT bar in Providence.

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When the bar received backlash, it first defended itself against criticism: on Instagram “Any of you who know us personally – even for just five minutes – will understand that the illegal intentions displayed here are completely false.”

As pressure mounted, the bar paused the project and later canceled it altogether.

During the review, Providence’s Democratic Mayor Brett Smiley slammed the mural.

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley speaks at a news conference following the shooting on the Brown University campus in Providence, Rhode Island, on December 13, 2025. (Libby O’Neill/Getty Images)

“The murder of the individual depicted in this mural was a devastating tragedy, but the misguided, isolating intent of those funding murals like those across the country is divisive and does not represent Divine Providence,” he said in a statement, later adding that he wanted to “encourage our community to support local artists whose work brings us closer together rather than dividing us.”

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Then doubled it Interview with WPRI.

“I regret the situation we are in in politics today, where everything is absolutely political, controversial and difficult,” he said in the interview. “There is nothing we need to do to learn from the tragedy of loss of life represented here, but then it was distorted by an erroneous tweet from our president and then a movement was funded by some right-wing billionaires that found its way into our society.”

“The private owner of a building decided to put up a mural that I don’t think fully understood its context, and I was asked if I thought it should be torn down, and I thought it should be torn down,” Smiley said. “I didn’t stop anyone from speaking, it was their decision to keep it or take it down, but it certainly wasn’t bringing us together as a community. There were really angry protests on both sides, there was a lot of hate speech online, and so I don’t think we were a stronger, more united community because of that mural, and so I thought the best thing to do was to take it down.”