Vandals deface Elvis Presley’s Graceland estate by spray-painting ‘Black Lives Matter’, ‘Defund the Police’ and ‘Abolish ICE’ on wall

Elvis Presley’s iconic Graceland estate in Memphis was defaced by vandals overnight with “Black Lives Matter” and “Defund the Police” graffiti. The protest slogans were painted in thick black and orange lettering on the stone wall that surrounds the King’s mansion along Elvis Presley Boulevard. Graceland, where Elvis lived for 20 years before his death in August 1977, also had its wall marred by other popular activist phrases such as “Abolish ICE”, “Defund MPD”, and “F*** Trump”.

The spray-painted lettering covered thousands of tributes to Elvis written by fans who have visited the King’s home since it officially became a museum in 1982. The vandalism was discovered by museum workers. Fans of Elvis were outraged to see the landmark defaced. This is totally uncalled for. Every visitor that has come to Graceland has written on that wall and there were no complaints.

So, really, it is WHAT was written, not the fact that it was written. Worker’s wielding power-washers were seen removing the graffiti from the wall. But Elvis’ home was not the only iconic landmark vandalized in the city. Vandals also struck the Levitt Shell concert venue in Overton Park, spray-painting scrawled obscenities, including “F*** TRUMP” and “F*** STRICKLAND”, a reference to Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, in addition to “EAT THE RICH” and other phrases.

The open-air amphitheater was where Elvis gave his first paid concert on July 30th 1954.

This is the sixth time in 2020 the Levitt Shell has been vandalized. The venue has already been significantly impacted financially from the on-going covid pandemic, and is currently battling an $800,000 budget shortfall. Due to the building being a historic venue, the cost of repainting the Levitt Shell could be around $150,000. That is why this is such a devastating situation seeing it this morning.

It is getting worse. Also tagged overnight by vandals was the large “I [Heart] Memphis” mural on Cooper Avenue at York, where the same graffiti themes of “BLM”, “EAT THE RICH”, and “DEFUND POLICE” were scrawled all over. The instances of vandalism were discovered on 901 Day, an unofficial celebration of Memphis culture that takes place on September 1st each year.

Memphis police are investigating the vandalism. Online, meanwhile, debate over the identity of the vandals was held across social media, with some blaming leftist thugs for the damage and others claiming that infiltrators seeking to discredit the “Black Lives Matter” movement were responsible. Elvis Presley lived at Graceland for two decades before his death on August 16th 1977, at age 42.

The estate, located along Highway 51 South, known as Elvis Presley Boulevard, was opened to the public in 1982 and attracts around 600,000 visitors annually.