NASHVILLE — The owner of a contentious Confederate statue along Interstate 65 says he will leave a coat of pink paint applied by vandals in order to draw more attention to the sculpture.

The statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, located on private property alongside Interstate 65 south of downtown, portrays the early Ku Klux Klan leader and former Confederate general riding a horse.

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Bill Dorris, who owns the property and statue, said the coat of pink paint would "show up real good," and confirmed he had no plans to remove the bright paint, which he anticipates will turn red in the sunlight.

"They've been trying to figure out how to cover it up," Dorris said, alluding to attempts by private citizens and government officials to conceal the equestrian Forrest statue erected in 1998. "I do think they've chose a real good color."

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The vandalism apparently occurred late Tuesday or early Wednesday morning.

Dorris acknowledged to reporters Wednesday that his ode to Forrest has been "shot at six times," among other instances of vandalism.

Last fall, someone placed a sign that read “Trump 2016, Make AMERIKKKA Great Again” on a fence on state right-of-way property near the statue.

State officials removed the sign shortly after.

Nashville's Metro Council approved a resolution in July that asked the Tennessee Department of Transportation to plant vegetation to block the view of the private owned statue.

The state quickly shot the request down.

“TDOT does not plant foliage on its right-of-way with the sole intention of blocking items on private property based on what might be offensive to some and not to others," wrote TDOT commissioner John Schroer in an email to the Metro clerk's office.

The vandalism this week took place during an ongoing fight over a bust of Forrest displayed inside the state Capitol in Nashville. Several Tennessee leaders, including U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Gov. Bill Haslam, have said the bust's location should be re-evaluated.

Last week in Memphis, the city removed Confederate statues from downtown parks after it sold two of the parks to a nonprofit.

According to Dorris, vandals must face as many as a dozen cameras on his property, whether they access the statue from a back road or by climbing a fence by the interstate.

He was waiting for assistance reviewing the footage in an attempt to identify the person or people behind the paint job.

"Well, enjoy the new paint scheme is the only thing I can tell them," Dorris said.

Photographer Shelly Mays contributed to this story.

Reach Natalie Neysa Alund at nalund@tennessean.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund. Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.