Larry Bird, probably wondering how many points he would have scored had he known it was okay to jack up 3s like Steph Curry. (Photo by Vincent Laforet/Getty Images)
Basketball star and former white Jesus, Larry Bird, is very popular in his home state of Indiana. He’s not just a man, he’s a brand, and has a vested interest in how he’s portrayed.
Jules Muck is an Indianapolis based street artist. She makes, you know, art. Her current thing is to make photo-realistic building murals of real people and adorn them with fake tattoos. Which, okay, I guess, sure, why not?
One of her installations is a drawing of Larry Bird sporting a number of tattoos that he, somewhat obviously, doesn’t have in real life. Her Bird has a spiderweb tatt and a tatt of two bunnies have sex (a call back to one of her other installations) and a face tattoo of a cardinal. If I were Bird, that cardinal would really piss me off because Bird played for the Indiana State Sycamores and the Boston Celtics and ran the Indiana Pacers and NONE OF THEM use a stupid cardinal like a heathen from Kentucky or St. Louis.
But for Bird’s lawyers, I guess it was the bunnies thing. From ABA Journal:
Bird’s lawyer, Gary Sallee, explained his client’s objection in an interview with the Indianapolis Star.
“”Larry’s position is he has elevated himself from where he began to where he is now through a lot of hard work. He has developed a brand that is marketable and he needs to protect that brand,” Sallee said. “The mural, as originally painted, was a departure from that brand.”
To avoid litigation over, like, street art, Muck agreed to remove most of the tattoos.
“Larry deserves some sort of prestigious mural,” she said. “That’s not my calling. That’s not what I’m here to do. I just wanted to have a little fun.”
Do not disrespect Larry Bird in Indiana. It’s never worth it.
You can see the original painting here.
Larry Bird mural with tattoos of mating bunnies and spider web brings objection from his lawyer [ABA Journal]