No Answers Into Who Vandalized the Willie Nelson Statue, or Why
A quick update on a story that perhaps shouldn’t be a story at all, but one that many have inquired about, and have been seeking answers to. It ends up having a very distinctly Austin, TX conclusion to it.
Very early Friday morning, February 23rd, someone decided to take a can of pink spray paint, and vandalize the iconic Willie Nelson statue that sits in front of Austin’s Moody Theater. This is the location where Austin City Limits is taped, and other concerts and events are regularly held. The graffiti was sprayed in random patterns and was primarily on the base of the statue, as well partly up one of Willie’s legs, but rather profuse in nature.
The local news reported on the incident on Friday, while representatives from a non-profit organization called the Downtown Austin Alliance that works to keep downtown clean showed up to remove the graffiti the very next morning. Saving Country Music happened to cover the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame event at the Moody Theater the next day (2-24), and no graffiti or lingering affects from the incident were seen, so it seemed like mostly a non-story.
However, on Monday, February 26th, the graffiti experienced on the Willie Nelson statue all of a sudden became national news, with Rolling Stone, American Songwriter, and other publications running stories about the vandalism. Whiskey Riff published a breathless story titled, “Whoever Vandalized The Willie Nelson Statue In Downtown Austin Needs To Be Punished To The Fullest Extent Of The Law.”
As these stories were shared nationally, Willie Nelson fans around the world became incensed that someone disrespected Willie and the statue in this way. Okay, so maybe it was a story, and we should find out who was responsible. So Saving Country Music reached out to the Austin Police Department to try and find the status of any investigation, obtain surveillance footage to share with the public, or attain any other answers.
However, those inquiries into the Austin Police Department went unanswered for about five days. Other local news outlets also received no answers from Austin Police about the incident. Finally on March 5th after pressing the Austin Police about the issue again, a representative from the Austin Police Public Information Office said they had no information on the incident because nobody had even filed a police report in the case, and no investigation had commenced.
Saving Country Music then contacted the Austin Downtown Alliance that removed the graffiti, and spoke to Brandon Fahy, Director of Public Space Experience.
“As part of our daily work, our ambassadors go around our district abating graffiti, picking up trash, providing outreach to people experiencing homelessness, and the graffiti just happened to be something that our team happened upon as part of their morning work,” Mr. Fahy says. “So they abated the graffiti. We don’t not file police reports for graffiti. We handle thousands of graffiti tags every year. That would really be up to the property to file a police report.”
So is this a situation where there is so much graffiti in downtown Austin that they can’t investigate every incident, even on a major landmark like the Willie Nelson statue? Is it a matter of under-staffing at Austin’s notoriously under-staffed and under-funded police department, or a combination?
“I wouldn’t say that graffiti in downtown Austin is a major problem,” Brandon Fahy says. “But it’s such a low level offense that there really isn’t the police bandwidth to investigate this. The graffiti on the Willie Nelson statue wasn’t enormous. They saw it and addressed it because our whole intention is to abate graffiti as soon as we see it, because if you allow these things to linger, it invites more graffiti to happen.”
“The story is that the Austin Downtown Alliance addressed a need, and nobody needed to call us for it. We identified it, abated it, and there was very little impact to the public. We’re proactive.”
So long story short, we will likely never know who vandalized the Willie Nelson statue and why, unless the Moody Theater takes the initiative to attempt to find the culprits by filing a police report and asking for an investigation. But it seems like perhaps Moody and the Austin Police Department have bigger fish to fry since it’s been two weeks and nothing has happened.
So there are your answers about the graffiti on the Willie Nelson statue.
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The 8-foot, 2,000 lb Willie Nelson statue was unveiled on April 20th, 2012, and has become a favorite Austin landmark ever since. It was designed by Philadelphia sculptor Clete Shields.
March 6, 2024 @ 11:05 am
Random story, not exactly related, but maybe:
Despite being based in Austin, for years I have avoided covering events at the Moody Theater. Ever since its opening, I had experienced incidents with security at the venue harassing me, and not allowing me to do my job as a journalist. This reached a fevered pitch when I went to cover a Jason Isbell concert there once, and got kicked out after the first three songs because apparently I was only credentialed to take photos, not actually stay and cover the show. I swore I’d never be back.
Fast forward to earlier in February when the Ameripolitan Awards were held there. Since I have covered every single Ameripolitan Awards, I was not going to miss it. As I was walking up to the Moody, I kept telling myself, “Don’t let the security get to you if you’re hassled, just go with the flow.”
I showed up in front of the Moody, and the first thing I did was take a picture of the Willie Nelson statue with my phone—the one at the top of this article. I have other photos of it, but I wanted one on my phone if I needed to for B-roll stuff covering the Ameripolitan Awards. While I’m standing on a public sidewalk taking a photo of a piece of public art, a security guard emerges from the Moody, asks me what I’m doing, and tells me in need to “move on” and “can’t be in this area.”
I immediately question him, tell him I’m a journalist there to cover the evening’s event, and he has no right to tell me that I can’t take a picture of the Willie Nelson statue and stand in that public space. So of course, he bows up to me, and immediately starts barking orders at me of where to stand, and what to do. Meanwhile, multiple people that he doesn’t even stop walk right by him, and right up the steps to the Moody with no question. When I point this out, it pisses him off even more, and now he’s yelling and condescending me.
BTW, the Instagram Influencer Nikki in Nashville walked up about 3/4 through this incident, and can attest to what was happening.
The security guard finally got on his radio, asked if I was cleared to enter the premises despite showing him my credential and ticket (he didn’t do this with Nikki or anyone else), and then proceeded to make me basically unrobe right there in front of the theater, barking at me the whole time (I was barking back), before he let me go through.
Again, don’t know this has anything to do with the vandalism. But this was my recent experience with trying to take a photo of the Willie Nelson statue. Something tells me I’m not alone.
March 6, 2024 @ 11:06 am
Anyone know where the Beyhive was the morning of Feb 23rd? Asking for a friend.
March 6, 2024 @ 11:08 am
Bret Hart or the Pink Ranger
March 6, 2024 @ 11:22 am
The police don’t solve crimes they just give you the paperwork to give to your insurance company. But yeah there was graffiti and it got cleaned up is probably not worth the police’s time. Not that anything would happen if it did get any of their time.
March 6, 2024 @ 11:26 am
All the Austin police say
They could have had him any day
They only let him slip away
‘Cause no one let them know
March 7, 2024 @ 7:15 am
FTW!!!
March 7, 2024 @ 12:04 pm
Texas police cleary aren’t the badasses they are made out to be just look at the elementary school shooting
March 7, 2024 @ 3:09 pm
The Left’s heroes have always been vandals,
And they still are, I guess,
Sadly in search of, and one step in back of,
Someplace to leave a big mess.
March 6, 2024 @ 11:30 am
Every day I’m becoming more and more estranged from society. Graffiti – destruction of property – is now acceptable especially in cities (maybe there is some underlying truth to “Try That is a Small Town” after all).
I was surprised when The Real Easy Ed (a person I mad respect and an avid reader and promoter of SCM) posted February 26th about the graffiti on the Willie Nelson statue:
“As someone who lives in NYC and who spent more than thirty years in LA, I’m really surprised on how the media is positioning this. Graffiti is deep into our culture and society, with our cities and rural areas covered in it. I’d bet this weekend’s act was less of “a direct affront to Nelson’s legacy” and more likely a few people who would have sprayed any statue they came across.
It’s confusing to me why people would be upset with this specific act when over decades it’s been an act of vandalism on almost every type of vertical space or statue. Sad to see it happen but l’ve become desensitized by graffiti, which doesn’t feel very good to state out loud.
Anyway, Willie’s statue was cleaned up within a day and I think the people of Texas have bigger fish to fry than this. My two cents.”
The more we accept these kind criminal acts, the more our society disintegrates.
March 6, 2024 @ 11:58 am
That is what is important about this Downtown Austin Alliance organization. The people who own the office buildings, hotels, and luxury apartments in the downtown area pay dues to it. Then they literally patrol downtown, picking up trash, and remediating graffiti 24/7 without having to get the police or city services involved at all. Seems like the easy way to deal with this. According to the guy I talked to, there are similar organizations in pretty much every American downtown corridor.
Of course though, poor neighborhoods can’t afford this service, AND the police don’t do anything about it. This is when it becomes a problem.
March 6, 2024 @ 5:14 pm
Careful there…Keep saying practical, common sense things like this that most people agreed on 10 years ago and you’ll be called an extremist right-winger.
March 6, 2024 @ 11:50 am
I’m sure the defunded Austin PD will pull all their resources to find the perpetrator of this heinous crime
March 6, 2024 @ 12:02 pm
The best thing you can do to prevent more vandalism is remove graffiti as quickly as possible. The worst thing you can do is leave it up to be seen or publicize it.
March 6, 2024 @ 1:51 pm
This is the reason I initially hesitated to publish a story about this, and why I purposely did not include any of the images of the graffiti in this report.
I remember a couple of years back when there was a rash of stories about country music festivals banning Confederate flags because they are triggering to people. My social media feed was filled with images of Confederate flags at the top of news stories, and nobody seemed to see the irony. I literally had more Confederate flags in my news feed than I ever saw at a country festivals.
March 6, 2024 @ 2:04 pm
“So is this a situation where there is so much graffiti in downtown Austin that they can’t investigate every incident, even on a major landmark like the Willie Nelson statue? Is it a matter of under-staffing at Austin’s notoriously under-staffed and under-funded police department, or a combination?”
Neither is the correct response. The owner of the statue didn’t feel it important enough to report it. Unreported crimes happen every day in cities big and small. Not sure why the jabs at the police on this one.
March 6, 2024 @ 2:45 pm
In the George-Floyd-BLM-apalooza a few years ago, mobs were pulling public statues of Columbus and Lincoln–along with, of course, Confederate officers–off their pedestals with chains and smashing them or dragging them into rivers and nobody was even arrested.
A month or so ago, some cretin cut down a Jackie Robinson statue in a Wichita park, apparently to demoish it and sell the scrap metal.
I’d say the Willie statue in Austin got off easy, with just some spray paint.
March 6, 2024 @ 4:18 pm
Recall also that the Bill Monroe statue outside the Ryman was damaged during the riot a few years ago.
March 6, 2024 @ 4:58 pm
I’m sire some of our modern, idiot young people did it because the younger generation has zero respect for anything. Austin, like all other liberal cities are getting what they voted for. I’ve been to Chicago, Memphis and Atlanta lately; it’s laughable that the people that live in these places continue to elect morons. I’m sure if the Austin Police even care to find out who did this, they will get less than a slap on the wrist. I am grateful to live in rural America where we still have some decency and respect for our history and our public displays.
March 6, 2024 @ 9:00 pm
“Leads? Yeah, sure. I’ll just check with the boys down at the crime lab, they’ve got four more detectives working on the case. They got us working in shifts! Leads!”
March 7, 2024 @ 1:45 am
It’s no doubt the act of kids. It’s their rebellious act of “f***k you boomer, this is what i think of your precious history”. Ol’ Willie just had the misfortune of being a statue easily available.
March 7, 2024 @ 3:07 am
This is nothing new. It’s a nasty thing to do but people have vandalized Jim Morrison’s grave in France.
Literally zero respect
March 7, 2024 @ 4:07 am
Code Pink.
March 7, 2024 @ 7:44 am
I remember being excited to visit Austin a few years ago and take in the music scene. Was utterly horrified what an absolute shit-hole it was and did not feel safe having my wife there. Couldn’t walk anywhere without literally stepping over homeless people sleeping on sidewalks and / or being harassed by panhandlers. This was in broad daylight.
Can only imagine it’s gotten worse. Will never go back. This story comes as no surprise to me either.
I will say we went to Gruene Hall on that trip (a few times actually) and had a great time. But that was like 90 min south of Austin.
March 7, 2024 @ 11:28 am
I’ve only been to Austin twice, once in 2018 and once in 2021 and there was a vast difference in the city in those few years. I know Austin used to be the safest city in America.
March 7, 2024 @ 8:12 pm
It is Austin. It is tent city. It is full of shifty characters.
Thomas Jefferson was right about cities.
March 7, 2024 @ 8:28 pm
Austin is not a tent city. I live on the outskirts of it. It’s one of the most wealthy and prosperous cities in the world that in 2024 has a comparable homeless issue to other cities after changing the laws a couple of years ago and electing a new mayor. “All cities bad” is blind bigotry built from fear an ignorace, and unhelpful in advocating for policies that can clean up America’s cities. They’re not going away.
March 8, 2024 @ 7:05 am
We ended up in Hamilton’s vision of America and it was the disaster that Jefferson foretold.
“I am not a friend to placing growing men in populous cities,” writes Jefferson to Dr. Caspar Wistar (21 June 1807), “because they acquire there habits; partialities which do not contribute to the happiness of their after life.”
Years earlier (23 Sept. 1800), he says to Dr. Benjamin Rush: “I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health and the liberties of man. True, they nourish some of the elegant arts, but the useful ones can thrive elsewhere, and less perfection in the others, with more health, virtue & freedom, would be my choice.”
So great was his enmity of cities that in the 1800 letter to Rush he states that the yellow-fever epidemic that hit Philadelphia and wiped out a large number of its citizens might just be Providence’s way of discouraging “the growth of great cities in our nation.”
To James Madison in the same year (Dec. 20), he writes: “I think we shall be [virtuous], as long as agriculture is our principal object, which will be the case, while there remain vacant lands in any part of America. When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become corrupt as in Europe, and go to eating one another as they do there.”
The man called it. I don’t fear the cities themselves. I fear what they have voted for and have unleashed on America. I was in Austin in the early 2020s. The tents were everywhere. Sad tale, indeed.
March 8, 2024 @ 8:29 am
Admittedly I am a country boy through and through. I will say on that same trip we also visited San Antonio and it was a night and day contrast. I will also say in the past year I have been to NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, Nashville, Tampa, Columbus, Cincinnati, Louisville, Lexington. Indianapolis, Jacksonville, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Orlando, and Washington DC – and I don’t mean just passing through on the Interstate; I mean getting out of the car, staying in a hotel, conducting business, walking around, dining etc.
In my lived experience Austin is the worst of them all from a homeless population perspective and it’s not even close.
March 9, 2024 @ 12:26 pm
Frankly what type of person would deface a statue of Legend who does nothing but make your town a prized area for “Outlaw Music” and place where everyone is “free” to be who they are. On top of the disrespect in general, i hope that cameras in the area show your face and your insecure and senseless deed. Mr. Nelso would say you have the right to “express” yourself, but those of us who hold him above the rest do not. I hope your fine is $$$ and you enjoy picking up trash on the freeway with a vest that says I defaced Willie’s statue for the next 2 years. Sounds reasonable…..
March 12, 2024 @ 8:39 am
Jackie Robinson and Willie Nelson statues vandalized.Sounds as if some folk have trouble with icons.