He’s calling it an act of civil disobedience. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce is calling it vandalism and destruction of public property.
James Otis, heir to the Otis Elevator Company, is seen on video dressed in a construction worker’s outfit early Wednesday morning and taking a sledgehammer and pickaxe to Donald Trump’s Hollywood star. In the Deadline Hollywood video, you can see both Trump’s name and the central piece of brass ripped off the ground.
Otis said his original plan was to extract the star and auction it off to raise money for the women who have come forward accusing Trump of sexually assaulting them.
People who want a star have to apply for it and, if approved, purchase it for $30,000.
Otis surrendered to police Thursday morning. Los Angeles police confirmed he was arrested and said more details on what charges he faces will be released later.
Before giving himself up, he told NBC 4 that he was “happy” and “proud” of his actions.
“I admitted I’ve broken the law, I’ve vandalized, I’ve stolen, and now I’m going to go get my punishment,” Otis said. “And that’s something Mr. Trump has never done.”
He added this is the 25th time he’s been arrested for acts related to various protests. He called removing the star an “act of civil disobedience, freedom of expression.”
The Walk of Fame is handled by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which called the act a destruction of public property and said the star would be repaired immediately, which would take several days.
“The Hollywood Walk of Fame is an institution celebrating the positive contributions of the inductees,” Leron Gubler, President-CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, told NBC 4. “When people are unhappy 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.”
A petition that gained nearly 45,000 signatures called for the removal of Trump’s star earlier this year, but Gubler said they had never removed a star and that the Walk of Fame was a “registered historic landmark.”