Graceland Vandalized With Black Lives Matter Phrases

Memphis, TN – The home of Elvis Presley, known as Graceland, was vandalized Monday night with graffiti of phrases such as “BLM” and “No Justice No Peace” spray painted on its property.

Levitt Shell was also damaged with graffiti, according to WHBQ.

Levitt Shell was the venue where Elvis Presley gave his first paid concert in 1954. It is an open-air amphitheater in Memphis.

WMC reported that the I Heart Memphis mural located in downtown was also vandalized. The downtown mural was defaced with the phrases “Black Lives Matter,” “Defund The Police” and profanities, according to WMC.

WHBQ reporter Shelia O’Connor posted photographs of the vandalism on Twitter.

“Crews are cleaning up after someone spray painted the walls of Graceland with messages like ‘Defund MPD’ ‘Arrest Breonna Taylor’s murderers’ and ‘BLM’ and more,” O’Connor tweeted.

Crews are cleaning up after someone spray painted the walls of Graceland with messages like “Defund MPD” “Arrest Breonna Taylor’s murderers” and “BLM” and more. I’ll give you a live look on @FOX13Memphis midday. pic.twitter.com/iggrafPLb8

— Shelia O'Connor FOX13 (@SheliaOConnor) September 1, 2020

Other messages included “I Can’t Breathe” and “Defund The Police” according to Fox News.

The Facebook page of the The Official Black Lives Matter Memphis Chapter posted that it supports “all acts of resistance.”

“As a reminder of our chapter and network politic: We support all acts of resistance in the name freedom and liberation,” the Memphis Black Live Matter group posted. “We do not micromanage the ways folks choose to show their outrage at the systems that consistently oppress us.”

WHBQ reported the damage was estimated to be about $150,000 due to the historic nature of the venues.

Officials estimate the vandalism was completed between 7 p.m. Aug. 31 and 7 a.m. Sept. 1.

The vandalism had been cleaned up by Tuesday night, according to WHBQ.

A Democrat politician defended the graffiti, according to WMC.

“What’s the real issue here? Every visitor that has come to Graceland has written on that wall and there were no complaints. So, really, it’s WHAT was written, not the fact that it was written,” said State Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis, on Facebook, according to WMC.