Video shows a man smashing Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a sledgehammer and pickax, destroying the Hollywood marker that honors the current Republican presidential nominee.
Police received a call around 6 a.m. Wednesday, and officers who responded to the Hollywood Walk of Fame confirmed that the star had been vandalized, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman said. The investigation is ongoing and there are no suspects.
Deadline Hollywood was the first to post the video of a man dressed in a city construction worker’s uniform destroying Trump’s star.
According to the outlet, the man said he planned to auction off the star and give the money to women who have accused the Republican presidential nominee and former “Apprentice” host of sexual assault. Trump has called the allegations “total fabrication” and has vowed to sue the nearly dozen women who have made the accusations.
A spokeswoman for the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which oversees the Walk of Fame, did not immediately return The Washington Post’s inquiries.
Trump was inducted to the Walk of Fame in 2007, three years after he began hosting the NBC reality competition show, “The Apprentice.”
“Trump’s extravagant lifestyle and outspoken manner have made him a celebrity for years, a status amplified by the success of the shows he produced, the Miss Universe Pageants and the NBC show ‘The Apprentice’,” according to the Walk of Fame’s website.
Trump is no longer associated with either production. And as his presidential campaign has ramped up, the Hollywood star has attracted ire.
In January, a photo showing a swastika spray-painted over the star made the rounds online, and police investigated. The Hollywood Chamber quickly cleaned the symbol off of the star.
“The Hollywood Walk of Fame is an institution celebrating the positive contributions of the inductees,” Hollywood Chamber of Commerce president Leron Gubler said at the time. “When people are unhappy with one of our honorees, we would hope that they would project their anger in more positive ways then to vandalize a California state landmark.”
About six months later, an artist erected a mini-wall around the marker on the Walk of Fame, a nod to Trump’s promise to build a border wall between the United States and Mexico.
