Hawaiian Telcom today painted over an unauthorized mural done by the mural artist Wyland over the weekend on a Hawaiian Telcom building in Lahaina.

Wyland said he did not have proper authorization to spray paint an image of a life-sized, 65-foot-long, female humpback whale on the side of the Hawaiian Telcom building.

In an interview with The Honolulu Star-Advertiser today, Wyland apologized and said he hoped that Hawaiian Telcom wouldn’t paint over the mural he created over two days — totaling 3-1/2 hours — on the building on Dickenson Street.

But the company decided to paint over it, and Hawaiian Telcom said it never received an apology directly from Wyland.

“Over the weekend, Hawaiian Telcom was notified by the Maui Police Department of possible unauthorized painting activity on one of our secured properties,” the company said in a statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “Hawaiian Telcom had not authorized any painting. As a public utility company, it is our responsibility to maintain our facilities, so today we took action to remove the unauthorized work.”