New York Mayor Bill De Blasio Postpones Black Lives Matter Street Painting Outside Trump Tower

New York Mayor Bill De Blasio has announced he is postponing the Black Lives Matter Street painting that will be located outside Trump Tower. According to the NY Post, a spokesperson for City Hall stated it postponed the event due to a scheduling change, adding how they would be “sending out more details in the coming days on a new date.”

The painting was initially scheduled to start at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday. Activist Michael Tucker, who had been invited to be a part of the event, said that he found out about the cancellation early on Thursday. “I do not know,” Tucker said after being asked why it was postponed. “I’m trying to figure that out myself.” Jerome Barth, president of the Fifth Avenue Association, was also planning on attending but told the NY Post he was advised that it was not happening at a late hour. “The city alerted us late last night it would not be moving forward the mural today. We have no additional details at this time,” Barth said.

While many have shown support for the street painting, some have seen it as De Blasio merely taunting the President, who has not has kind words for the Black Lives Matter movement in the past. Trump has previously expressed his opinion on the situation by tweeting, “Told that [Mayor Bill de Blasio] wants to paint the fabled & beautiful Fifth Avenue, right in front of Trump Tower/Tiffany, with a big yellow Black Lives Matter sign. ‘Pigs in a Blanket, Fry ‘Em Like Bacon’, referring to killing Police, is their chant. NYC Police are furious!”

In addition to the street art, it was announced earlier this month that some streets will be renamed “Black Lives Matter.” This is similar to a move made in Washington D.C., where they now have a “Black Lives Matter Plaza.” De Blasio previously stated, “A proposal put on the table was to name streets in each borough and to paint the words on the streets of this city. In each borough, at a crucial location. What will be clear in the street name and on the streets of our city is that message that now our city must fully, fully, deeply feel – and this nation must as well – that Black Lives Matter.”