A ‘bald baby’ JD Vance mural has popped up in Fishtown
The wall on the side of Sulimay’s Restaurant joins a global movement of using memes of the Vice President to protest his policies.
Last week, a mural of U.S. Vice President JD Vance debuted on the side wall of Fishtown restaurant Sulimay’s.
The image is one of many memes of Vance that have been circulating on the internet. The images include Minion Vance, Shrek Vance, and even one where he appears as the Las Vegas sphere.
The Fishtown mural shows a wide-eyed, chubbier version of the vice president’s face but with a bald head, often referred to as the “bald baby” or “baby Vance” meme.
Videos of the mural have amassed millions of views on social media. On Sunday, TikTok user Paige Weinman posted a video of the mural that’s gained 900,000 likes and nearly 3 million views.
The bottom right of the mural reads “FUBARPAC,” an acronym for F–ed Up Beyond All Recognition/Repair. PAC is a political action committee.
Jack Inacker, a Philly native and founder of FUBAR PAC — self-defined as a “veteran-led Democratic opposition, waging a ruthless year-round campaign against MAGA cowards and their allies” — is the brain behind the Fishtown mural.
After months of exchanging Vance memes with a friend, Inacker decided to project the images against a prominent wall for Philadelphians to see. After further thought, he decided a painting would draw even more attention.
He made a post in the Philadelphia subreddit, asking if he could use someone’s wall for the project. Among the three users that responded, Inacker said Sulimay’s was the “perfect” fit.
Sulimay’s owner Chad Todd said he backed Inacker’s idea to highlight how “deplorable” both President Donald Trump and Vice President Vance have been since being sworn into office in January.
“No moral person can support what they’re doing,” Todd said. “I’ll take any opportunity to bring attention to it.”
Last Friday, Inacker brought along a projector, a handful of Sharpies, about $200 worth of paint from Lowe’s, and an artist friend.
They began by tracing over a projected image, then filling it with color until the piece was finished 12 hours later. Fishtown residents stopped by to lend a hand, Inacker said. Some suggested touch-ups, like adding eyeliner.
While the muralized meme of Vance is largely seen as something comical, Inacker said its purpose is to forge community and shed light on the Trump administration’s crippling federal financial cuts.
“Painting a meme on the side of a building is dumb bulls—, right?” Inacker said. “It’s fun to do with your friends, but I wanted to figure out a way to transform that into some meaningful action as well.”
In a TikTok posted Monday, Inacker showed a time-lapse of the mural’s creation. The clips were overlaid with references to Vance’s stance on cuts to foreign aid, the increased cost of Medicaid, and the lives impacted by Trump and Vance’s decisions.
Inacker plans to place a small plaque at the bottom of the mural with a QR code that directs people to a voter registration form.
He loves that the mural serves as a photo opp, but he wants it to become a resource and inspire people to think about political issues in their own way.
“I want to make sure that the barrier to entry to politics is really low, that more folks can get involved, and they don’t have to do serious things all the time,” he said. “They can have a party together to paint their own JD.”
With the mural, Fishtown joins somewhat of a global movement as altered images of Vance have become an international fixture.
In June, a Norwegian tourist claimed he was denied U.S. entry at Newark Liberty International Airport because he had downloaded the bald baby meme on his phone. The Trump administration refuted his claim, saying he was denied because of “admitted drug use.”
Weinman said she was surprised by the interest her post generated, but not by the popularity of the mural itself.
“We were like, ‘Oh, if you’re going to deny travelers the ability to come into the country because of their political views, their sense of humor, or their private conversations, that’s something that really stands in opposition to American values.’ So, I can understand why that image really took off in general, and why so many people find it funny.”
Similar murals of Vance have popped up on the vice president’s recent England tour. Last week, a poster by the “Everyone Hates Elon” protest group displayed the same image of Vance on a billboard in Cheltenham, Oxfordshire.
Todd said he has no plans to remove the mural from the restaurant’s wall just yet.
“As long as the positivity continues, it will stay up,” he said. “But I really don’t want to look at that for the rest of the year. It’s slightly terrifying, and freaking out the kids is a concern.”
The story has been updated to include comments from Sulimay’s.