A mural of Iryna Zarutskaya was taken down from an LGBT club after far-left activists and Providence Mayor Brett Smiley ordered the business to remove it. Iryna is the young Iranian woman who was brutally murdered on a train. The murderer was a black male criminal who wanted to kill “the white girl.”
Iryna doesn’t fit the leftist narrative.
🚨 WTF?! Democrat Mayor of Providence, RI Brett Smiley has successfully pushed for the mural of Iryna Zarutska to be removed
Let’s be clear: this is ONLY being done because Iryna was an innocent white girl kiIIed by a vioIent black man
NEVER would happen if she was black pic.twitter.com/VZuhIu5cfw
— Henry (@HenryFrank02) April 7, 2026
Another business stepped up.
Opa the Phoenician, a Lebanese restaurant in Providence’s historic Federal Hill, is now home to the mural. Artist Ian Gaudreau began working on it on Friday, Fox News reported. The previous location was The Dark Lady, an LGBT bar in the city’s downtown. Angry cancel culture critics harassed the owners into canceling the project.
Opa’s co-owner, Francois Karam, emphasized that the restaurant is owned by immigrants and that the mural honors Zarutska’s immigrant story, Fox reported.
“[Iryna] was once an immigrant chasing the American dream,” Karam said, according to WJAR. “She worked to build a life for herself and lost it along the way. This mural is our way of honoring her on a building owned by an immigrant family who understands that journey.”
Elon Musk paid for some of the project. The leftists have been destroying any and all murals.
Leftists are literally vandalizing the murals of Iryna Zarutska!!!! These are the piece of shit demons we’re dealing with!!!!! 🤬 pic.twitter.com/o4Malzcp6n
— Bethany O’Leary 🇺🇸 🦅 (@BBMagaMom) April 6, 2026
The relocation has brought some relief to some Providence residents. One individual told NBC 10 that she is “glad it’s being moved to somewhere a little more neutral, a little less offensive.”
Mayor Smiley used the fact that Elon Musk funded murals for Zarutska to turn residents against it. The Dark Lady initially pushed back against its critics. But after Smiley got involved, they caved and shut down the project completely.
Interview with the owner of the Opa Restaurant hosting the Iryna Zarutska mural part 2. https://t.co/Hjaet3mulM
— JohnFGately (@johnfgately) April 7, 2026