Some guy identifying himself as James Otis woke up early today and went down to 6801 Hollywood Blvd. in Los Angeles. He set up some construction signs, took out a pickaxe, and absolutely obliterated Donald Trump’s Walk of Fame star. He had the whole thing filmed and by the time the police arrived, he was gone.
Here’s his explanation:
The man, who told Deadline his name was Jamie Otis, said he was trying to extract the star to auction it off and raise funds for the women who have come forward to accuse Trump of sexually assaulting them over the decades.
Of course, the “embedded terrazzo and brass star” was broken to bits, but the disk in the middle popped out and could make for an auctionable souvenir. I think the problem is that it’s stolen property.
I don’t know who “owns” the sidewalk along the Walk of Fame, but it’s a crime against someone to take a pickaxe to the property whether it’s publicly or privately owned. So, unless “James Otis” is a fake name, this guy doesn’t seem to have been too smart.
This star was already taking semi-regular abuse.
Trump’s star has had its share of attention since he announced his White House bid in 2005, including a reverse swastika spray-painted over it in January, and a mute sign painted over it in June. Later in the summer, an L.A. artist erected a small razor-wire-topped wall around the star, a knock on Trump’s plans to build a wall on the Mexico border.
Now, unlike Vladimir Lenin and Saddam Hussein, Donald Trump doesn’t have any statues to tear down. He has casinos and hotels, and he’s taking his own name off of them now that he’s toxified his brand. This star was the only monument he had that he didn’t erect (or lease) himself. From that standpoint, I imagine this was a good way of hurting him the way he’s hurt so many people over his life and during this campaign. James Otis doesn’t have to sell his purloined bronze disk to accomplish some measure of vigilante justice here.
Still, it’s a little disturbing to see how Trump’s behavior is inspiring bad behavior on all sides now.
This stuff is just silly; not an act of violence, real or imagined.
The guy will have to pay his fines and do his community service. I hope he think this stunt was worth it.
Around my area there hasn’t been a whole lot, until recently. We did have a pellet shot through a window at the Dem HQ a few weeks ago. But there has been an explosion in the destruction of campaign signs this past couple of weeks, with a couple of Trump signs actually set on fire in people’s yards. Of course, any Hillary sign in this county has a high likelihood of either disappearing or getting a hole punched in it. One lady I know has had seven signs either stolen or destroyed. I haven’t seen as many bumper stickers on cars this election cycle as I would expect. People are probably afraid of getting their car keyed or damaged in some way. Can’t say I blame them. I knew several people on 2012 who had their cars vandalized due to the presence of Obama stickers.
Living in a heavily Republican area is bad enough. But seeing this kind of behavior, seemingly coming from both sides, is really depressing. But the fact is, this is the kind of behavior that has been encouraged by Trump and by many of his supporters for a long time. So I guess I should not be surprised that there might be some anti-Trumpers who feel that at this point what is good for the goose is good for the gander.
Why in the world did The Donald have a star in the first place?
Trump’s bombastic, take-no-prisoners tactics have driven people right up to and over the edge. Lots of folks are frustrated, appalled, and disgusted, so incidents of retaliation could be expected, but not condoned.
Trump has done so much damage to this country’s sense of dignity and respect that it will take ages to erase. That will be his legacy, not a brass star in Hollywood.
David Fahrenthold tweeted that Trump did not even pay the $30,000 sponsorship fee to the Hollywood Historic Trust to have his star on the Walk of Fame–a fan of “The Apprentice” paid it for him.
Dude’s a hero. Kudos. Some start up a GofundMe to pay his legal bills.
Whoa. It’s a crime to take The Donald’s bronze star and selling it seems to further the crime. Yet, stealing and distributing emails seems to be acceptable. All of this is just not bad behavior.
And, sadly, Trump not paying a dime in Fed taxes for close to 2 decades is strictly legal.
I don’t condone criminal actions of any kind, but this stunt has a somewhat amusing angle to it. I can’t imagine why anyone would pay for that bombastic bastard to have a star, but that’s liberal Hollywood for ya.