Donald Trump’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star vandalized again

Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has been severely vandalized again, the Los Angeles police department has confirmed.

At 5.55am PST on Friday morning, officers responded to a call regarding the vandalism and took a report on the scene, a spokesman confirmed. He said the police department could not say how much estimated damage was caused.

The celebrity news outlet TMZ reported that a man dressed as the Incredible Hulk took a pickaxe to the star, “destroying it beyond recognition”. Images show the president’s name has been nearly completely removed from the sidewalk, which is made of terrazzo clay and brass. The LAPD could not confirm whether the star was destroyed by the Incredible Hulk.

The destruction comes hours after Trump announced on Twitter that he and the first lady had contracted Covid-19. It is unclear whether the star’s destruction was related to the new diagnosis.

This is not the first time anti-Trump sentiment has been taken out on the president’s Hollywood star. It has been defaced many times since he entered office, while supporters frequently attempt to clean it off and scrub the defacements. There was a separate pickaxe incident in 2018, a sledgehammer destroyed it in 2016, and it was covered in Black Lives Matter-related slogans in June 2020. An artist once placed a miniature wall around it to protest against Trump’s immigration policies.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which administers the Walk of Stars, said any star that is vandalized is replaced by the Hollywood Historic Trust, the non-profit, non-partisan group that manages it.

“When people are angry with one of our honorees, we would hope that they would project their anger in more positive ways than to vandalize a California state landmark,” said Rana Ghadban, the Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive officer. “Our democracy is based on respect for the law. People can make a real difference by voting and not destroying public property.”