The owners of a new bar in Geraldton never thought an artwork on the building's exterior depicting UFC fighter Tai "Bam Bam" Tuivasa doing a shoey would be quite so controversial.
The mural by Perth street artist Jordan Rush is being painted black after backlash on social media and warnings from local liquor enforcement.
The owner of sports bar The Foreshore, Sumit Kumarbrajabati, put a call out to artists to submit ideas for the wall as the bar was being built.
"The reason we put the mural instead of advertising was (we wanted) some kind of art piece that was related to our business," he said.
Ms Rush submitted a design of the mixed martial arts fighter Tai Tuivasa of Indigenous Australian and Samoan heritage.
His victory celebrations drinking beer out of a borrowed shoe are renowned.
Ms Rush was commissioned to complete the work which took three days to paint at a total cost of more than $3,000.
But photos at its unveiling with the artist, the local mayor and the owners prompted negative comments on social media.
"It seemed to be a 50 - 50 split," Ms Rush said.
"Some people really hated it and some people really liked it.
"Some of the comments were 'How am I going to explain this to my child?' It's bad for the town', 'it propagates the stereotype of dero Gero'.
"Others were like 'lighten up, love Bam Bam'."
WA Police said they asked the owner to consider if the painting was a positive reflection of the town and a letter was delivered on behalf of local community services asking for it to be removed.
Mr Kumarbrajabati said he did not want to deal with the ongoing issue and would paint over the mural while he considered whether to replace it with advertising for the bar or another artwork.
Ms Rush said she was unprepared for the negative feedback but understood it.
"I never felt like it would offend people so for me the reactions have kind of changed," she said.
"When I installed it, I thought it was kind of cool, and then when I got home and I saw some people were not into it, I was surprised.
"I was like OK with it that people felt emotional enough to either love it or hate it."
Ms Rush said she hoped another art work would replace the mural.
"The nature of street art is that it is temporary in a way, I wasn't expecting it to be this temporary but I'm OK with it if that's the end of the story."
