UPDATE (10/27/2016): The construction worker disguise appears not to have been enough for the man responsible for bashing Donald Trump's Hollywood Walk of Fame star to get away without detection—though the fact that he, you know, stopped to talk about it on video and gave what seems to be his real name might have given the police just a little bit of a tip-off. As of this morning, Reuters reports that police have arrested one James Lambert Otis in connection with the defacement. Otis' online paper trail suggests a colorful character with a history of activism, even filing FEC paperwork for his own Presidential bid this year, in addition to his day-job as CEO of Otis Lambert Financial Group.
This morning, Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame got big league defaced, as he would probably say. Using a hammer and pickax (the best pickax) and dressed in a construction worker disguise, the vandal smashed the star to bits.
According to USA Today, the vandal, identified as Jamie Otis, originally intended to remove the star from the sidewalk intact. The original idea was to then put the star up for auction to raise money to donate to the women who have come forward with sexual assault allegations against Donald Trump after he said he intended to file lawsuits against his accusers.
At some point in the process, the removal plan went by the wayside, and the star just got smashed. By the time police arrived on the scene, Otis was gone.
While it may be for the last time, this isn’t the first time Trump’s Walk of Fame star has been used to make a political statement this year. In July, the street artist known as Plastic Jesus erected a “border fence” around the star to protest the candidate’s proposals on immigration issues.
Celebrities pay about $30,000 to have their stars installed on the Walk of Fame, but that money doesn’t cover any upkeep or repairs. Restorations to stars come from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce’s Friends of the Walk of Fame fund. (Perhaps we can expect the Trump Foundation to be making a donation to the fund soon?) The Chamber has just issued an alert to press that they will be replacing the star, but it will take several days and will have to be sealed off for the time being.
Watch Donald Trump’s Hollywood Walk Of Fame Star Get Destroyed https://t.co/eMdX7kwYg1 pic.twitter.com/mAdz4QMwmC
— Deadline Hollywood (@Deadline) October 26, 2016
Want more? Sign up here to stay in the know.
