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Vandal's 'disgusting' attack on statue of late tennis legend

Associated Press
·4-min read
A man, pictured here apparently vandalising Arthur Ashe's statue.
Photos on social media show a man apparently vandalising Arthur Ashe's statue. Image: Twitter/Getty

A statue of African American tennis legend Arthur Ashe on Richmond, Virginia's Monument Avenue has been vandalised with the words “White Lives Matter.”

Photos show the base of the monument tagged with white spray paint and the words “white lives matter”, as well as the initials “WLM.”

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Those initials were then later painted over with “BLM” for “Black Lives Matter”.

Richmond Police said they were alerted to the vandalism about 10:15 am on Wednesday.

Police say red paint on the statue itself was already being cleaned off by community members.

Volunteers, pictured here cleaning spray-paint off the Arthur Ashe memorial.
Volunteers clean spray-painted graffiti off the Arthur Ashe memorial. (Photo by John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Police said they have information on possible suspects and are asking the community to help if they have information on who is responsible for the vandalism.

Social media photos appear to show one vandal in the act of spraying “BLM” on the statue.

The Arthur Ashe monument was dedicated in 1996 to memorialise the Richmond native and counterbalance the string of statues on Memorial Avenue dedicated to Confederate leaders.

The vandalism of the Ashe statue comes as multiple Confederate statues have been toppled, vandalised and slated for removal in the city during protests prompted by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Social media users hit out at the vandalism of Ashe’s statue, with many labelling it ‘disgusting’ and ‘disgraceful’.

“There are people who have an agenda,” David Harris Jr, Ashe’s nephew, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

“Some of them are still settling on hate and discord because they see the system changing before them, and they’re lacking influence and control over it.”

Ashe, who died in 1993 at age 49, was the first black man to win the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.

Arthur Ashe, pictured here in action at Wimbledon in 1975.
Arthur Ashe in action at Wimbledon in 1975. (Photo by Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Sam Newman’s shock George Floyd comments

Meanwhile, Sam Newman has once again slammed AFL players for taking a knee before games last weekend, saying Floyd should not be idolised.

Newman also questioned Floyd’s character and asked how anyone could devote ‘monuments’ to him.

“George Floyd, who is a piece of sh*t incidentally,” Newman said in reference to the 46-year-old’s criminal history.

“You know who George Floyd is? He has been in jail five times, he held up a pregnant black woman with a knife, he's a drug addict, he's a crack head and he's a porn star.”

To which co-host Mike Sheahan responded: “And he's dead”.

“Because of the police brutality,” Newman responded.

“And it should never have happened, but I'm just telling you who George Floyd is and they've made a monument to him and he's a piece of sh*t.”

Newman went on to say the police actions in Floyd’s death were “disgraceful” and “inexcusable”, but couldn’t see why the protests had spread to Australia.

with Yahoo Sports Staff