Chicago mural of Kanye West painted over in Fulton Market

CHICAGO (CBS) – A mural depicting Ye, best known as Kanye West, was painted over in the West Loop neighborhood in light of recent controversial comments made by the rap star.

The artist who created the mural, Jason M. Peterson, posted a photo to his Instagram stories showing the blacked-out silhouette of Ye with a caption saying "We need better role models."

The original mural, located on the side of a building near the intersection of Morgan Street and Lake Street in the West Loop, showed Ye in a jacket. Peterson had also made the mural into an NFT and put it up for bid. On the website, Peterson said the mural was created in collaboration with another artist and was "based on a photographic portrait of Kanye West shot by Jason." He also said the mural is visited by over 55 million of Chicago's annual visitors.

A video posted to Twitter on Wednesday showed someone painting over Ye's image with what appeared to be black paint.

The removal of Ye's image comes as the artist has lost key business partnerships because of his offensive and antisemetic comments. Most notably, Adidas ended its partnership with him.

In:
• Chicago
• West Loop
• Art
• Kanye West