“When an individual demands more than $15,000.00 but refuses to provide a written contract, we think it’s reasonable to get the facts before payment is made.”
On the same day an Instagram video of mural artist Hanna Daly painting over a Rusty logo as part of an ongoing fight with the iconic Californian surfboard brand climbed past forty million views the story has taken a new and devastating twist, its third in as many weeks.
To recap, in the back half of last month Rusty was hit with a PR headache after a queer female artist took to her socials to accuse the R dot of not paying for an elaborate wall mural at their Carlsbad store.
When it didn’t arrive after two years she filmed herself painting over the Rusty logo with the subsequent Instagram reel going viral. Rusty Australia, which makes Rusty clothes but not surfboards, tried to tamper the controversy by covering the invoice.
And now the third and best!
If you’d read twist part two, you’ll see emails from Jen Cassidy, Rusty Surfboard Inc’s Global MD.
Hanna
You did an amazing job! So beautiful. Rusty was psyched!
We will keep you in mind for any future projects that come up.
Hit us up and stop by if you’re ever down this way.
Will get a check out to you asap.
and
Like I had mentioned before, I came in after they already agreed to the mural. The management at that time didn’t budget the project properly, if at all.
Which, is absolutely NOT your responsibility, but unfortunately, became your problem. I am so sorry.
Well, from the horsie’s mouth, if you’ll excuse the expression, is another bend in the story.
“The barrage of hateful messages and phone calls took us by surprise to say the least,” Cassidy told BeachGrit.
“In the 40 years that Rusty Surfboards has been in business, Rusty had never experienced anything like this before. We wanted to be sure that we didn’t make any inaccurate statements, and we had hoped that the other parties that were involved would have used the opportunity to step forward and bring along with them some clarity, or maybe just do the right thing and tell the truth.
“I also want to thank you for taking the time to report on the situation. After reading the comments on the article from surfers in the community it was encouraging to see that people had their doubts, and that there is still common sense out there.”
Jen also included an official statement from Rusty.
Rusty Surfboards Inc., apologizes for our silence and the confusion it caused regarding the mural painted on the side of the liquor store in Carlsbad, CA. We are sorry to all the innocent Team members, family and friends and business associates who have been attacked on social media. We regret that the matter spiraled out of control while fulfilling our obligation to discover the truth.
Until we understood the facts, it would have been irresponsible for us to make a comment.
Our silence was not meant to communicate guilt or hide any of the facts surrounding the matter. We simply did not have any information or documentation that clarified the circumstances. We had no contract or other communication agreeing to commission the mural. Neither did we have any understanding why Rusty Surfboards would choose a location in Carlsbad, more than 25 miles from Rusty’s headquarters, nor on the side of a liquor store Rusty Preisendorfer had never heard of or visited in his life.
Rusty Preisendorfer is an artist himself. He had never heard of the muralist. He owns a surf shop in Del Mar, and if the company had wanted a mural, it would have painted it on the side of Rusty Del Mar. Also, he would have hired an artist he knew or painted it, himself. It just didn’t make sense. We needed some time to figure this out.
Rusty Surfboards never said that it would not pay the muralist. We simply requested the details to understand how we were responsible for paying more for this mural than for any othe marketing campaign we had spent money on in the recent past. Also, we never intimidated the muralist. Our lawyer wrote to her and demanded that she stop harassing innocent 14 and 15-year-olds on the Rusty Surf team. We thought that was a reasonable demand.
The muralist who painted the wall Invoiced Rusty Surfboards for $15,750.00. She claimed to have fronted her own money to rent a scissors lift and buy paint at a cost of more than $1,000.00. Yet, when we asked her to show us the written contract to back up her Invoice she didn’t, and has yet to show us one, despite her statements that a contract exists.
We continue to ask her to show us the contract. When an individual demands more than $15,000.00 for services, claims to have fronted her own money, but refuses to provide a written contract, we think it’s reasonable to get the facts before payment is made.
As we investigated during the onslaught of hate and abusive messages and phone calls to us, our Team members, our family and friends, associates and Rusty Preisendorfer himself, we discovered that a third-party with existing but separate business relationships with the muralist and Rusty Surfboards put a deal together with the muralist. This third-party had commissioned the muralist to paint a wall with an almost identical design shortly before the Big Pig Liquor project.
We found emails where this third-party invited a member of the Rusty Marketing team to get involved with the Big Pig project.
Yet, we found no contract or design approvals for any part of the mural from Rusty Surfboards. We do, however, have emails where the muralist informed Rusty Surfboards that changes to the design were made in conjunction with the third-party representative.
Since there is no written contract that the muralist will produce we may never know who in fact commissioned the mural. We are quite sure it was not Rusty Surfboards or Rusty himself. The Rusty Marketing Team member did not have the authority to agree to a contract for $15,750.00, nor did he. And to cap it off, we’re informed the muralist continued to have a commercial relationship with this third-party after this mural, the future of which she probably doesn’t want to jeopardize by orchestrating social media campaigns against them.
But neither the third-party nor the muralist will confirm or deny any of this in writing.
We also apologize to the company in Australia that controls the Rusty Trademark for apparel. That company unquestionably had nothing to do with this matter. They were innocent, and were caught off guard by the social media barrage. In the end this strategy paid off and the Apparel Licensee wrote a check in the hope of stopping the damage to the brand. The muralist forced a totally innocent party to pay her. That is what she is celebrating. She is not celebrating the truth.
Lastly, we apologize to the muralist whom out of frustration decided that rather than help provide clarity and truth she opted to employ a strategy that was destructive and hurtful.
Truth matters.
The third party involved offered to settle with us, in order to never even mention that a third party was/is involved. We have declined their offer.
We simply want to set the record straight and move past this unfortunate situation. It’s gone on way too long.
Ol Rusty Preisendorfer, seventy-two and who was once rated the second-best shaper in the world behind Al Merrick, must be wondering what the hell is going on in the year 2025. A little different to his glory days in the eighties when Occ was ruling the world on his “impossible to fall off” sleds.
