City Delays Trump Tower BLM Mural To Unknown Date, Mayor Says

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Plans to paint a Black Lives Matter mural in front of Trump Tower on Thursday were postponed due to logistical reasons, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced.

The mayor was set to join dozens of volunteers to paint the words "Black Lives Matter" on Fifth Avenue Thursday morning, but abruptly canceled and pushed the event back to an unknown date. De Blasio said during a Wednesday appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that the mural will be installed "in a matter of days."

"The delay is simply logistics, it's going to happen soon. Couple of things we have to work through, and we will work through, and then we're going to give you an announcement," de Blasio said during his Thursday press briefing.

When asked why the city was moving forward with the mural despite a $9 billion budget shortfall, de Blasio described the mural as a "small cost, big impact" proposal. The mayor also admitted that the symbolic effort is simply a "small measure" to acknowledge and respect the contributions of Black people to New York City and the country as a whole.

"There is much more we have to do — with our commission on racial justice and reconciliation we are going to look at the big things we have to do, the structural and institutional racism we have to address," de Blasio said.

President Donald Trump took to twitter to voice his displeasure with the city's plans, likening the Black Lives Matter mural to a "symbol of hate."

"NYC is cutting Police $’s by ONE BILLION DOLLARS, and yet the [mayor] is going to paint a big, expensive, yellow Black Lives Matter sign on Fifth Avenue, denigrating this luxury Avenue. This will further antagonize New York’s Finest, who LOVE New York & vividly remember the horrible BLM chant, 'Pigs In A Blanket, Fry ‘Em Like Bacon,'" Trump tweeted.

De Blasio announced plans this June to paint at least five Black Lives Matter murals throughout the city — one in each borough — following Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser's decision to install a similar mural in front of the White House. Two additional murals, the Fifth Avenue mural and one planned for Harlem, will push the total mural count up to seven.

Manhattan will also be getting a mural near Foley Square in Lower Manhattan, which has been a popular meeting spot for protests. The first of New York City's Black Lives Matter murals was painted in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.