A mural of a celebrated Greensboro drag queen has been vandalized

An outdoor mural of Brenda the Drag Queen — a Greensboro celebrity and leader in the LGBTQ community — has been defaced. It’s located on the side of the Bearded Goat, a self-described “classy dive bar…open to all.”

The apparent perpetrator announced his vandalism with an Instagram message to Brenda including his self-portrait and a message telling her to die.

The painting was completed two years ago by Jenna Rice Art who calls Brenda a friend of many years.

"It’s really sad and wrong and it was more of like, I was more upset that it was like an attack on my friend not necessarily like — you know, I can always paint something else but, everyone should have the right to be who they want to be," says Rice. "You know, be who they want to be, dress how they want to dress. As long as they’re not harming anybody in the process, who cares?"

On Wednesday, Greensboro police and Crime Scene Investigators were at the scene. Rice says she plans to paint over the graffiti later this week.