City wants Trump’s Walk of Fame star gone
It has been smashed, defaced and enclosed with a tiny border wall
Since before the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star has seen just about everything.
It was smashed into pieces — twice. It was vandalized with a swastika, enclosed with a miniature border wall, defaced with profanity and graced with the presence of a gold-painted toilet telling passersby to “TAKE A TRUMP.” Trump supporters have fought back, defending the star. Late last month, hours after a man destroyed the star with a pickax, a fierce brawl ensued, leaving one person kicked in the head and another bleeding from the face.
The site has become a symbol not only of the nation’s celebri- ty president but of the polarization surrounding him. And a nearby city council has had enough.
On Monday night, the West Hollywood city council voted unanimously in favour of a resolution to ask for the removal of Trump’s star, due to the president’s “disturbing treatment of women and other actions that do not meet the shared values of the City of West Hollywood, the region, state, and country.” It cited U.S. President Donald Trump’s lewd comments on the Access Hollywood tape, his policy of separating families at the border and his denial of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Since the city of West Hollywood does not have any control over the Walk of Fame, the council’s resolution simply urges the city council of Los Angeles and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to remove the star.
“These are the sort of icons and images that define us as Americans,” West Hollywood Mayor John Duran told the Washington Post late Monday night. “To think that we would pay tribute to someone who’s causing such a horrible disaster to our country’s values.”
Trump received his star on the Walk of Fame in 2007 for his work as the producer of the Miss Universe Pageant. His is one of more than 2,500 coral terrazzo and brass stars on the three-kilometre stretch of the popular Hollywood tourist attraction. Each year, a committee sifts through about 200 nominations to select 20 to 24 new stars to add to the Walk of Fame.
The city council of West Hollywood, which neighbours Los Angeles, has “never felt compelled to intervene” in decisions regarding the Walk of Fame, Duran said. The council didn’t make such calls for star removal when scores of powerful men in Hollywood were accused of misconduct amid the #MeToo movement. It did not pass a similar resolution to eliminate the star of Bill Cosby after the disgraced comedian was convicted of sexual assault.
“They’ve had their day in court, they’ve had their trial,” Duran said of men suhc as Cosby. But this time is different, Duran said, because Trump is the “leader of the free world.” “There’s a sense of lawlessness that is occurring that is largely being orchestrated by the president.” The council passed the resolution not because Trump is a conservative or Republican, Duran said, but because he has created a “constitutional crisis.”
In light of the revelations of the #MeToo movement, the city’s resolution also asks that the officials overseeing the Walk of Fame consider revisiting the qualifications for earning a star.