When we last left you on this story, leftists in Providence, Rhode Island, were having absolute meltdowns over a mural of Iryna Zarutska that was being painted on the side of an LGBTQ club in the downtown area.
As we reported, the opposition was led by the city’s Democrat mayor, Brett Smiley, who called the mural “divisive” and said it should be removed. He also cited the alleged “misguided, isolating intent of those funding murals like this across the country” (read: Elon Musk) as a reason to oppose the tribute to the 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who was murdered in Charlotte last August while traveling on its light rail system.
Another example of an imbecilic statement came from Democrat state Rep. David Morales, who proclaimed that “Ultimately, we want to make sure that every community member who calls Providence home feels safe.” Morales did not elaborate on whether young women like Iryna Zarutska also had a right to feel safe from predators who feel freer to victimize innocent people thanks to soft-on-crime policies in Democrat-run states like Rhode Island.
The Democrat owners of the LGBTQ club, who frantically tried to assure the community that they were not, in fact, Trump supporters, ultimately caved to the woke mobs and had the unfinished mural taken down.
The good news is that the mural has found a new place to land:
The project… is finding new life on the side of a Lebanese restaurant, Opa the Phoenician.
Artist Ian Gaudreau returned to work Friday night, days after his original mural of Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee killed in a 2025 North Carolina train attack, was ordered to be removed by the owners of The Dark Lady, an LGBTQ+ nightclub.
[…]
The move to Federal Hill was facilitated by the owners of Opa the Phoenician.
As an immigrant-owned business, the restaurant’s leadership said they felt a personal connection to Zarutska’s journey.
Co-owner Francois Karam emphasized that the restaurant wanted to step in after the downtown plans fell through.
Here’s a video of the artist and his team working on it on Tuesday:
Still going strong… pic.twitter.com/3GV6DqfJIy
— Ian M Gaudreau (@IanGaudrea30195) April 7, 2026
The mural is not being funded by Musk nor any other mega-donor type, according to Gaudreau.
This is an earlier image from after they first started the project:
#New: A Saturday morning check-in on the Iryna Zarutska mural on Federal Hill.
I spoke with the co-owner of Opa The Phoenician about why he felt this was the right home for the tribute.
Catching up with artist Ian Gaudreau next. More tonight on @NBC10! pic.twitter.com/7FPUhnxmV4
— Ryan Medeiros (@RRyanmedeiros) April 4, 2026
Not surprisingly, the supposedly tolerant left in Providence are doing their thing:
In an Instagram post over the weekend, Karam posted a screenshot showing that Opa had received six new one-star reviews, but also received 34 new five-star reviews.
One woman yelled out of her car that she couldn’t wait for the building to go up for rent, Karam said. Another person put a sticker that said “A trans person peed here” on the door, though security footage indicated that they didn’t actually urinate on the building.
According to the Providence Journal, Karam maintains that the experience has been mostly positive and good for the restaurant. And from the sounds of things, he’s not the type to be easily persuaded into taking it down, which is great.
Just goes to show that sometimes the good guys in these blue bastions do win. Bravo.
Editor’s Note: The American people overwhelmingly support President Trump’s law and order agenda.
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