Painting of South African President's Penis Defaced

AP
Adam Martin 5,518 Views May 23, 2012

Everyone's a critic, apparently. Displeased by South African artist Brett Murray's controversial semi-nude portrait of President Jacob Zuma, two men, a middle aged white man and a young black man, defaced it with paint Tuesday. The act of political vandalism occurred in front of a camera crew from South Africa's e-TV, according to The Star, of South Africa.

As The Atlantic Wire's Alexander Abad-Santos noted last week, a lot of people are offended that Murray painted Zuma with his penis visible: As Public Radio International's The World noted, "The BBC’s Milton Nkosi says there‘s a widespread feeling in South Africa that the painting was 'crude, uncouth and un-African.'" Even before the portrait was installed, the African National Congress condemned the gallery, saying of Murray's painting: "It's making a mockery of the highest office." Well, now thanks to the vandals, that mockery seems to be at least partially covered up.

MSNBC.com's Ian Johnston notes that the two men, Barend la Grange, and Lowie Mabokela, are due in court today. Seeing as how there's video footage catching them (literally) red handed, we wonder what they'll have to say for themselves.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at amartin at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

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