A man armed with a sledgehammer and a pick-ax destroyed Donald Trump’s oft-vandalized Hollywood Walk of Fame star early Wednesday morning.
A video obtained exclusively by Deadline Hollywood shows an unidentified man swinging at Trump’s star with what appears to be a pick-ax, ultimately destroying it.
The man, identified in an exclusive story by Deadline as one Jamie Otis, was reportedly disguised as a city construction worker when he arrived at the heavily-trafficked Hollywood Boulevard landmark at around 5:45 a.m. local time.
“He said he originally intended to remove Trump’s star completely to auction it off next month in New York to raise funds for the women who have recently come forward to accuse Trump of sexually assaulting them over the decades,” the man told Deadline’s Dominic Patten.
The Republican presidential nominee’s Walk of Fame star has been targeted by vandals several times since he announced his candidacy for president last summer.
In January, Trump’s star was defaced when an unidentified assailant spray-painted a swastika over it.
In July, anti-Trump California-based street artist Plastic Jesus erected a miniature “border wall” around the GOP White House hopeful’s Hollywood Boulevard star.
Trump’s star was dedicated in 2007 for his work on the NBC reality TV series The Apprentice.
The thousands of stars that checker the famous Hollywood Boulevard are maintained by the Hollywood Historic Trust and chosen by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
Trump star has been the subject of repeated requests for removal since the businessman announced his presidential campaign last year. When asked if they planned to remove Trump’s star, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Leron Gubler told Breitbart News “the answer is no.”
“Once a Star has been added to the Walk, it is considered a part of the historic fabric of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Because of this, we have never removed a star from the Walk,” Gubler said.
According to Deadline, the Hollywood Historic Trust learned of the vandalism early Wednesday morning.
This post has been updated to include Deadline’s exclusive video of the vandalism.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @JeromeEHudson