Ex-Professor Who Threatened Reporter Runs Communist-Themed Tattoo Parlor

Shellyne Rodriguez, a former Hunter College professor who was fired in 2023 after being filmed menacing a New York Post reporter with a machete, has opened a "speakeasy tattoo parlor" where she creates communist-inspired artwork. The establishment, named Comrade Comadre, is also described as a community library.

The parlor's Instagram account displays images of radical tattoos, including a Soviet-inspired red star and sickle. Photos show Rodriguez tattooing a red five-pointed star on the arm of CUNY graduate school Professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore, an advocate for prison abolition. Rodriguez's husband, Craig, received a sickle tattoo above his wrist.

Rodriguez, 48, has also posted tattoos she has given herself, such as the Arabic word "sumud," meaning steadfastness, which is also the name of a Gaza flotilla linked to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. She also inked a headshot of Italian communist theorist Antonio Gramsci and barbed wire symbolizing "Palestinian land defense."

Her online postings also feature books like "In Defense of Looting" by Vicky Osterwell, "The Radical Politics Coloring Book," and "Anarchy Explained to Children."

According to the New York Post, Rodriguez's name did not appear in city databases for tattoo artist licensing. In addition to her dismissal from Hunter College, Rodriguez was also fired from Cooper Union in 2024 over antisemitic social media posts. She is currently listed as part-time faculty at Parsons School of Design at The New School.

In November 2025, Rodriguez was awarded $407,000 by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs for a 23-foot-tall statue in the Bronx, adorned with Black Power fists. She stated that she conceived of the work during a period when "the violent foundations of the United States was collectively being called into question."