It’s funny looking
Widow wants Rodney mural painted over
A recently painted tribute to Rodney Dangerfield in his old Queens neighborhood is getting no respect — from the comic legend’s widow.
Italian artist Francesca Robicci created the Kew Gardens mural last year free of charge, painting it on a brick wall near Lefferts Boulevard.
The entertainer’s widow, Joan Dangerfield, provided Robicci with the photo it’s based on and even pitched in $1,000 to get the project done. But somehow she found the final result, which is the “I Get No Respect” comedian’s spitting image, to be disrespectful — and wants it painted over.
“The situation here is that the artist, she left the country before making the revisions that were necessary,” Joan Dangerfield told The Post.
She said she’d approved a sample image that the artist had submitted — but the mural itself didn’t live up to it.
“As soon as I saw the image . . . I laid out the revisions that I thought would help improve it,” explained Dangerfield, who lives in Los Angeles. “I tried for three months. I thought the only solution at this point was to have it painted over.
“I don’t want to embarrass the artist,” she added. “I don’t want to embarrass her, hurt her. This is not a public stance against her.”
Her lawyer complained to Robicci and the nonprofit that commissioned the mural, saying it is a “less-thanflattering portrayal of Rodney, who deserves nothing but the highest respect,” NY1 first reported.
Robicci told NY1 she was devastated to hear that her creation wasn’t well received — and said she’d even fly back from Italy to touch it up.
“It was something that I wanted to do for that city,y, for the community and also to haveve some kind of, as I said exposure foror my art,” she said.
“I was not expectingpecting all this issue of this thing thatat came out as a gift.”
Dangerfield said she’ll give Ro-Robicci a chance toto propose revisions to the current mural but may also commission anotherother artist with more experience.
Several Kew Gardens resi-residents were dismayedmayed to learn that the mural might not last.
“It really looksks like him,” said d Anthony Teatro, 54.
Vikas Bandhu,u, 38, said, “As longong as it’s done withith love . . . the effortrt and the love is what counts.”