Who vandalized the Willie Nelson statue?

The bronze statue of Willie Nelson in Austin was partially spray painted pink this weekend.

An eight-foot bronze statue of Willie Nelson in Austin, Texas, was vandalized over the weekend, the network reported Fox from Austin. On Friday, much of the statue’s base was covered in bright pink paint.

Local cleaning crews have been scrambling to clean the statue since the vandalism. Austin police did not respond to request for comment from WECB Monday regarding potential suspects or whether anyone had been arrested.

Vandals spray-painted the Willie Nelson’s bronze statue in downtown Austin at second & Lavaca. A Team from the downtown Austin alliance spent the morning removing the Paint. no word if the Vandals were caught @fox7austin @Austin_Police @DowntownATXInfo pic.twitter.com/S0ExJSPwcG

— rudy koski (@KoskionFOX7) February 23, 2024

Willie Nelson has been synonymous with the city of Austin since the 1970s. Born in Abbott, Texas, Nelson attempted to make a name for himself in Nashville in the 1960s before moving to Austin in 1972, where he adopted the city’s hippie-cowboy culture and its counterculture music venue, the Armadillo World Headquarters, and helped launch the Outlaw Country movement. In 2010, the city honored Nelson by renaming Second Street downtown Willie Nelson Blvd. Nelson’s bronze statue has stood outside the ACL Live venue in downtown Austin on Willie Nelson Boulevard for more than a decade. It was inaugurated on April 20 in 2012.

Nelson was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame late last year, with Chris Stapleton, Dave Matthews and bandmate Sheryl Crow on stage for his induction. At age 90, Nelson remains active on stage and will continue touring through 2024. Last week, the singer’s annual Luck Reunion was announced, with Nelson headlining as well as Tyler Childers, Old Crow Medicine Show and Madi Diaz at South By Southwest next month.