Los Angeles: US President Donald Trump’s Walk of Fame star in Los Angeles has been vandalised again, authorities said, adding that the perpetrator, who has attacked the monument multiple times since 2016, turned himself in.
A video posted Friday by the TMZ news website showed that a man wearing a black suit took a pickax to Trump’s star and smashed it, reports Xinhua news agency.
Trump received the star in 2007 for producing the Miss Universe pageant and his hit reality show “The Apprentice”.
In the video, the star was covered with plywood and had fencing around it, but none of that deterred the white man, who was identified as James Otis.
Otis turned himself in and was booked for felony vandalism, said the TMZ report, adding that he had just attacked the star 28 days ago dressed up in a Hulk costume.
The first time Otis was arrested for damaging Trump’s Walk of Fame star in February 2017, he struck a plea deal with prosecutors which would help him avoid jail time by paying $4,400 to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the Hollywood Historic Trust.
According to a Fox News report, Trump’s star on the Walk of Fame has been vandalised several times since he announced his candidacy for the White House.
In February 2016, the star was defaced with a swastika spraypainted on it.
In August 2018, the West Hollywood City council unanimously passed a resolution to have the star permanently removed, but the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which has direct authority over the Walk of Fame, refused.
As of 2020, the Hollywood Walk of Fame comprises more than 2,690 stars embedded on the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood.
IANS