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He was invited in Los Angeles for the exhibition "Art in the Streets" but his work on the side of the Geffen Contemporary Wing of MOCA was censored. In February 2009, the Pentagon decided to lift the two-decade long ban on photographs of flag-draped coffins. Somewhere down the line the military brass reasoned (or was forced to admit) that it was contradictory to champion “Operation Iraqi Freedom” while denying the media the freedom to publish images of soldiers returning home in caskets. Apparently, Jeffrey Deitch missed the memo that censoring anti-war images of coffins is something that democratic societies do not take kindly to. Deitch objected to the content of the mural – a series of coffins draped with dollar bills, instead of flags, because he felt that it might upset the Japanese-American community and the veteran community. “There were zero complaints, because I took care of it right away,” explains Deitch. “This is 100% about my effort to be a good, responsible, respectful neighbor in this historic community.”
