FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

The VICE Guide to Right Now

City Lawmakers Are Fighting to Remove Trump's Hollywood Star for Good

The West Hollywood City Council is voting on a resolution asking for its removal "due to his disturbing treatment of women," among a litany of other reasons.
Drew Schwartz
Brooklyn, US
Photo by Victor Park/Loudlabs via Twitter

Late last month, someone obliterated President Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a pickax, becoming the second person to demolish it, and just one of countless others who have vandalized it. The organization behind the Walk of Fame replaced the star within a day, and vowed—as it has for years—that it would never remove a name from the Walk. But a few California lawmakers are trying to change that.

Advertisement

On Monday, the West Hollywood City Council is voting on a resolution to urge the two bodies in charge of the Walk—the City of Los Angeles and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce—to permanently remove Trump's star, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The resolution asks to nix Trump from the landmark for a number of reasons, including his role in the family separation crisis, his withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, and his move to bar transgender troops from the military. At the top of the list, though, it's calling for his star's removal "due to his disturbing treatment of women."

"Starting with the 2016 presidential election, a number of disturbing instances concerning Mr. Trump’s treatment of women came to light, including the Access Hollywood tape where Mr. Trump is heard making disparaging remarks about women, multiple allegations of abuse, and efforts to cover up those instances," the resolution reads. "Allowing Mr. Trump to continue to have a star in light of his behavior toward women, particularly in the #timesup and #metoo movements, should not be acceptable in the Hollywood and entertainment industry communities."

Ever since the Walk of Fame was unveiled in the late 1950s, it's been run by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, a non-governmental organization that determines who receives the stars and adds them to the Walk. The Walk itself is maintained by the City of LA, meaning Trump's star was replaced with taxpayer money. Even if the West Hollywood City Council's resolution passes, the Chamber and the City of LA could always refuse to remove the star.

Advertisement

The Chamber has been called on to remove stars before (including Bill Cosby's back in 2015), but it's always refused on the grounds that once a star is added to the Walk, it becomes a part of the landmark's "historic fabric"—and that the Walk is about "celebrating the positive contributions of the inductees."

"A celebrity’s politics, philosophy, irrational behavior, outrageous remarks or anything like that have never been cause to remove a Walk of Fame star,” Johnny Grant, who formerly helmed the Walk of Fame, once told Variety.

The West Hollywood City Council's resolution goes further than just asking for Trump's removal from the Walk: It's proposing that in light of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, the Chamber of Commerce and the City of LA revisit the qualifications for making it onto the Walk, "for both future 'stars' and existing ones." There are several men accused of sexual misconduct who are still on the Walk of Fame, from Kevin Spacey to Brett Ratner—and if this resolution passes, maybe Trump's star won't be the only one in jeopardy.

Update 8/7: The city council's resolution passed unanimously.

Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of VICE delivered to your inbox daily.

Follow Drew Schwartz on Twitter.