DETROIT – Since last fall, you may have seen a few new faces on the side of a landmark Downtown Detroit building.
A mural that’s an ad for Rocket Companies is covering up the Whales of Broderick Tower and is visible from Comerica Park.
With the Tigers season officially underway, more people are taking notice -- and they aren’t happy about it.
Brodrick Tower is an iconic part of Detroit’s skyline, especially if you catch a Tigers game and so is the art on the side. That art is now part of a controversy.
Broderick Tower is sometimes known as the whale building because of the whaling mural that’s been on the northeast side of the building since 1997.
Read: New mural to drape Broderick Tower, the famous ‘whales building’ in Downtown Detroit
The artist behind the whales is Madison Heights native Robert Wylan, but it was covered by Rocket Mortgage last year with an ad featuring smiley faces that are up around town -- an original piece by Detroit artist Phillip Simpson.
Online, pushback against the new ad has been swift. As people have been attending and tuning into Tigers games where the tower is visible. Some have written “RIP whale building” and another said, “I will never forgive Rocket Mortgage for covering up the whales.” Another person wrote, “disgusting.”
Fans have even brought signs into recent Tigers games to get their message on TV.
The City of Detroit’s Corporation Counsel is currently in the middle of legal action, working to get the ad removed or moved to a new location.
Their push is currently waiting in front of the Michigan Supreme Court.
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