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Donald Trump's Walk Of Fame Star Vandalized With A Pickax

Pedestrians walk past a cordoned-off area surrounding Donald Trump's vandalized star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Richard Vogel
/
AP
Pedestrians walk past a cordoned-off area surrounding Donald Trump's vandalized star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Donald Trump's star dimmed a bit on Wednesday. Actually, it was smashed. An early morning vandal dressed as a Los Angeles city construction worker used a pickax and sledgehammer to destroy Trump's sidewalk star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Police are still investigating, but a man who identified himself to Deadline.com as Jamie Otis can be seen on a video destroying the terrazzo and brass star as onlookers giggle and ask for the smashed bits as souvenirs. Otis told the website he may turn himself in to the LAPD and that he'd be "happy to go to trial." He also told Deadline he had hoped to auction off the sidewalk star to fundraise for women who've accused Trump of sexually assaulting them. Trump has denied the allegations.

Donald Trump's Hollywood Walk Of Fame star was repaired quickly after it was vandalized Wednesday.
Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images
/
Getty Images
Donald Trump's Hollywood Walk Of Fame star was repaired quickly after it was vandalized Wednesday.

Trump got his sidewalk star in 2007 for hosting the NBC reality show The Apprentice, where at the end of every episode, he roared lines like "You're fired. Go!" to losing competitors.

During his presidential campaign, the Republican candidate's Hollywood star has been spray-painted with a swastika and a "mute" icon, and a miniature border wall was built around it. Los Angeles Police estimated this latest mischief would cost $2,500 to repair.

In fact, Trump's star was quickly repaired. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, the group that runs the Walk of Fame, vowed to press charges "to the full extent of the law." In California, a vandalism charge can result in up to three years in jail and a fine of $10,000 or more.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

As an arts correspondent based at NPR West, Mandalit del Barco reports and produces stories about film, television, music, visual arts, dance and other topics. Over the years, she has also covered everything from street gangs to Hollywood, police and prisons, marijuana, immigration, race relations, natural disasters, Latino arts and urban street culture (including hip hop dance, music, and art). Every year, she covers the Oscars and the Grammy awards for NPR, as well as the Sundance Film Festival and other events. Her news reports, feature stories and photos, filed from Los Angeles and abroad, can be heard on All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, Alt.latino, and npr.org.