Graceland Spray Painted With BLM And 'Defund The Police' Graffiti

Crews at Graceland are power washing graffiti off a wall in front of Elvis Presley's Memphis home on Wednesday after it and other area landmarks were spray painted overnight.

Someone tagged Graceland, Levitt Shell, and the I (heart) Memphis mural with BLM, "Defund the police," "No Justice No Peace" and other messages. The spray painted slogans were on a rock wall that surrounds Graceland and was already covered with handwritten messages from Elvis fans and others who visited the mansion, the Commercial Appeal reported.

No one knows who wrote the messages on the landmarks, but Memphis Police are investigating. This hasn't stopped people on social media from debating who is behind the graffiti. Tennessee State Rep. London Lamar, D-Memphis, tweeted that someone is trying to make the Black Lives Matter movement look bad, while others are blaming BLM.

Memphis activists would rather people be angry about police killings and systemic racism instead of the vandalism, the Daily Memphian reported.

There is also anger that this happened on 901 Day, the city's unofficial holiday that celebrates all things Memphis.

“We wake up, excited to celebrate our city on 901 Day, and we see our beautiful historic landmark defaced with messages of pain,” said Natalie Wilson, executive director of the Levitt Shell, an outdoor stage. “And that breaks our heart. We’re brokenhearted and devastated by this."

“We want to be part of the conversation that helps heal our city. We want to see change happen. But how do we talk together, how do we ensure that the messages we provide are productive? This isn’t productive. People are trying to speak, and I get that, but we've got to come up with a better way," Wilson continued.

Graceland officials didn't comment on the graffiti, but Memphis Police estimate that it'll cost about $150,000 to repair the wall outside of the historic mansion.

Photo: Getty Images