Tech Bros, Including Elon Musk, Offer Millions of Dollars To Finance Murals Honoring Murdered Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska
Self-proclaimed ‘misogynist’ influencer Andrew Tate is also offering to donate $1 million for hundreds of planned murals and posters.
Elon Musk and Andrew Tate are promising to donate $1 million each to an online campaign to put up hundreds of posters and murals around the United States to honor the Ukrainian refugee whose killing on a Charlotte light rail train has fueled outrage on social media.
The fundraising was started by a tech CEO, Eoghan McCabe, and has quickly drawn considerable support from others in the tech sector. “Iryna Zarutska did not ask to be a martyr,” his GiveSendGo fundraiser says.
“But you can help make sure there is at least some meaning in her brutal death. We will install as many posters and murals across this great nation as funds afford so that the important conversations her slaying provokes may perpetuate and drive much needed change,” the fundraising pitch continues.
Mr. McCabe said he was donating $500,000 and was looking for other sponsors. Mr. Musk quickly offered $1 million and Mr. Tate replied that he would do the same. There are about 500 other smaller donors who had given just under $40,000 by Wednesday morning.
In a follow-up post, Mr. McCabe said that there was now enough funding for nearly 300 murals and said there were 800 interested artists. “We’ll start to commission work in a few days,” he said.
Zarutska, 23, fled war-torn Ukraine in search of safety only to be slashed in the neck four times in a six-second, unprovoked attack from behind while she was riding the train.
The attack took place on August 22 and a suspect, Decarlos Brown, was quickly arrested. But the case was not widely reported until the transit system released a short video of the incident on Friday and it became a trending topic on social media. Conservatives are citing the case as another example of Democratic cities sweeping crime under the rug.
Brown is a 14-time offender who spent more than five years in prison for armed robbery before his release in 2020. Brown’s long criminal career includes convictions for felony larceny, breaking and entering, and shoplifting, according to North Carolina prison system records.
President Trump on Wednesday called for a “quick” trial and the death penalty in the case.
If the series of murals is painted across the country it could be viewed as a counter to another set of murals that honored George Floyd after his death at the hands of police at Minneapolis. Floyd’s 2020 death sparked violent protests and riots across the United States and calls to defund police.
The police officer who put his knee on Floyd’s neck, Derek Chauvin, was convicted on murder charges, outraging some who felt that police officers were being blamed for just trying to carry out a difficult job.
