The Andy Griffith Show: TV Land Statue Defaced

Call Deputy Barney Fife! Someone has vandalized the statue of iconic Sheriff Andy Taylor and his son, Opie.

The Andy Griffith Show ran for eight seasons on CBS and followed the simple life of Sheriff Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith) and his family and friends in small town Mayberry, North Carolina. Other memorable castmembers include Ron Howard, Frances Bavier, Don Knotts, George Lindsey, Howard McNear, Aneta Coursaut, Colin Male, Jack Dodson, Hal Smith, Betty Lynn, and Jim Nabors.

As part of a TV Land landmark program, a statue of Griffith and Howard was unveiled in Raleigh, North Carolina capital in 2003.

A year later, a replica was unveiled in Mount Airy, Griffith’s hometown and supposedly the inspiration for Mayberry. The statue’s become a local tourist attraction for thousands of people but now, people are looking at it for a different reason.

Someone recently spray-painted parts of the statue with Joker-like colors. Andy’s hair is painted green and his badge and face are sprayed with red.

Local residents are understandably upset. Tanya Jones, the executive director of the Surry County Arts Council, told myFox8, “I was extremely disappointed that somebody would do that to something that’s so important to our community.” She continued, “I think it’s probably teenagers who think they were probably doing something funny, but it’s definitely not funny right now because of tourism.”

TV Land maintains the statue and asked locals not to try to repair the statue as they’re sending someone to assess the damage. It’s unknown how much it will cost to repair the statue.

There is usually a video surveillance system watching the statue but it had accidentally been turned off. A cash reward is being offered for information that leads the police to the perpetrator(s).

Has anyone seen Ernest T. Bass lately?

Image courtesy Mt. Airy News.

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