A protest group formed to decry the recent whitewashing of a mural at L.A.'s Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) this week handed out condom packages that facetiously tell controversial MOCA chief Jeffrey Deitch to “practice safe art.” The website ARTINFO reports that Deitch himself was handed one last night.

The commissioned mural by street artist Blu depicted dollar bills instead of traditional flags draped over war caskets. As the work neared completion, the museum apparently got cold feet and painted over it.

The protest group, L.A. Raw, has held Deitch, a former New York gallery honcho, accountable.

ARTINFO reports that the condoms were passed out Thursday night at an art panel discussion at the Fowler Museum. The packages state, “Don't Be Blu, Deitch, Practice Safe Art.” Someone recognized Deitch and gave him one, too, apparently.

(You gotta be, er, big to be the subject of your own custom condom. Just sayin').

The group also staged a protest recently in which lasers were used to recreate the mural on the whitewashed wall of MOCA downtown.

And now L.A. Raw plans to stage a protest Thursday outside the Millennium Biltmore Hotel downtown, where the Smithsonian's G. Wayne Clough was scheduled to appear, according to ARTINFO.

L.A. Raw isn't happy with the Smithsonian's “removal of a David Wojnarowicz video from the National Portrait Gallery's 'Hide/Seek' show under right-wing pressure,” according to the site.

Oh, and Deitch will be recognized for his alleged whitewashing, too.

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