"Andy a hater" — Internet reacts to King Von's controversial King Drive mural being vandalized

The mural of late rapper King Von in his Chicago neighborhood was defaced by graffiti in the wake of his associate Lil Durk's arrest. The latter's arrest was in connection with a 2022 LA shooting involving Quando Rondo, a fellow rapper and Von's rival.

For the unversed, Durk was recently charged with "murder-for-hire" for an alleged revenge attack on Rondo, who was suspected of being involved in Von's murder in Atlanta in 2020. While Rondo was thought to be the target of the 2022 attack in LA, he escaped unharmed. However, his cousin was killed in the incident.

The mural was done in honor of King Von at King Drive, Parkway Gardens, in 2021. It showed the slain rapper sitting backwards in a chair, wearing a green hat and a silver chain with a pendant that reads "O Block," the colloquial nickname for Parkway Gardens.

Following Durk's arrest, Von's mural was sabotaged with red graffiti that read, "Andy (heart emoji) Suki."

The news of King Von's mural being defaced was met with mixed responses on the internet. Some took the vandalism in stride, joking about the "Andy" mentioned in the graffiti, tweeting that he was a "hater."

"Andy a hater."

Many argued against the vandalism, wishing that people let the dead rest. Others wondered if there was any protective material that one could use to preserve murals.

"Let the dead rest SMH," one person tweeted.

"Could they have some type of plastic on murals they can just take off when people vandalize? Like an art cover?" another person questioned.

"Smh our people gotta do better man," someone else commented.

"Get that person arrested immediately," another user added.

However, others claimed that the King Von mural deserved to be defaced, with several people adding that the whole mural should be painted over.

"He’s a bad person who cares," one person tweeted.

"Paint over the whole thing," someone else added.

"They should just honestly remove it," another user wrote.

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King Von's mural courted controversy when it was first unveiled

King Von's mural in King Drive was met with polarizing opinions when it was first painted on the side of Parkway Supermarket. While some claimed it was a tribute to the late 26-year-old rapper, others argued it glorified and promoted gang culture.

The mural is done by Chris Devins, a Chicago-native urban planner/artist. Delilah Martinez, the CEO of Mural Movement, commissioned the 40-foot-tall art piece. In an August 2021 interview with Complex, Martinez explained why they used the Parkway Supermarket wall as the canvas.

She said it was because the supermarket was a place King Von, whose real name is Dayvon Daquan Bennett, frequented growing up in the neighborhood.

Following the mural's completion, the Chicago police asked that the art be taken down. Martinez said the police wanted them to remove the "O Block" chain, adding:

"Von’s team, who hired me to do this, reached out to me, like, “We have a problem, the police keep going into the store and asking the store owner to take it down.” This was before his birthday. The very first day, the [police] were already going into the store, because they didn’t like the [O Block] chain. The police were asking us to remove the chain, and I was like, “No, this mural is already completed, we’re not removing this”."

The decision was put to a vote with the people of Parkway Gardens and surrounding neighborhoods, who ultimately decided to keep the mural up.