This Seemingly Innocent Pizza Mural Sparked a Heated Debate on TikTok

Throughout its short years of existence, TikTok has established itself as more than just a platform for users to post videos of themselves doing the latest dance craze or sharing the latest viral recipe. It has also become home to exposing stories that would otherwise go unnoticed by traditional mainstream media, such as the viral tale involving a pizza mural.

Whether it’s going down the rabbit hole of a true crime story that has gone cold with the hopes of bringing new details to light or highlighting a small, local story that has received national attention, TikTok users will post about it all.

Brick + Dough pizzeria in Montclair, New Jersey, is at the center of the latest TikTok rabbit hole due to a mural that was painted over an existing one that many believe to be far superior. According to the artist, @artbyjenflaum, she was hired to paint a new mural and ended up painting multiple pizzas on the building of Brick + Dough.

However, when TikTok users got wind of how detailed, intricate, and meaningful the previous mural was, they couldn’t help but make comparisons, with the overwhelming majority preferring the original image, which was of two older women from a prior era who looked to be wise and thoughtful in their expressions.

"What bothered me tho was how the artist framed her video w the 1st person in a negative light but those who were supportive in a positive light," one commenter wrote before another added, "I just wish her new mural was more interesting to look at. It’s static and boring and it doesn’t direct the eye anywhere."

Many online attribute the replacement of the previous mural with a new one that lacks the depth and meaning of the original due to multiple issues.

While some cite the ongoing and extreme DEI rollback policies enforced by the Trump administration as the reason that the original mural featuring a Black woman was replaced, other TikTok users noted that gentrification could also likely be a cause.

"What I don’t like is murals that go up in gentrifying neighborhoods. Depicting minorities, while pricing them out. Even as an artist, I now roll my eyes at murals," one person pointed out.

Another shared, "Not to mention everything is ephemeral, especially murals and street art like they're supposed to go away and change over time."

The artist noted that she was hired to paint a mural and didn’t decide to replace the existing one on her own.

She also said that since the story and her mural have gone viral, she has received a fair share of hate comments. However, some TikTok users called her out on the claims and believed she was exaggerating for engagement.

In her most recent TikTok video, her message was clear writing, "Shades on, Haters off" and "Sending love."