Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

This Artist Wants to Build a Wall Along the U.S.-Mexico Border Made Out of Cheese, and Welcome to 2019

This Artist Wants to Build a Wall Along the U.S.-Mexico Border Made Out of Cheese, and Welcome to 2019
Cheese Wall/YouTube

Troll's gonna troll.

President Donald Trump's hopes for a border wall with Mexico may have curdled, but they have not been totally evaporated just yet. That is if one artist has anything to say about it.

"Professional provocateur" Cosimo Cavallaro, who specializes in creating art from food, plans on building a seven-foot-high, quarter-mile-long wall of spoiled cheese a mere 45 feet from the US-Mexico dividing line. Cavallaro has already placed 200 bricks of rotten Cotija, a hard Mexican cheese, and plans on using up to 8,800 more to realize his vision.


Cavallaro will live stream the construction process, which he calls "the biggest project of his life," on Facebook beginning at 7 p.m. EST Monday and hopes to have much if it completed by Thursday.

“A cheese wall is something I’ve wanted to do for 20 years,” Cavallaro told The Huffington Post. “When you come to a barrier or a boundary, you want to expand beyond it.”

Cavallaro credited Trump's demand for a border wall as his inspiration.

“Trump’s demand gave me a context for this, the emotional impact,” Cavallaro said.

Watch Cavallaro erect a slice of his cheese wall:

Cavallaro also acknowledged the risks his wall faces, such as structural collapse or damage from animals - though he remains undeterred in his mission.

“That’s what humans do,” he explained. “We consume, and then we waste. I just hope the cheese wall feeds you in another way.”

Cavallaro says that his experience as an immigrant motivates him to do things differently.

“As an immigrant child, we were always looked upon us as outsiders. I understand the outsider point of view very very well. I’ve never fit in, in fact, what I’ve learned is that if you want to fit in, you must stand out to fit in," Cavallaro writes on his website.

“I don’t like walls. So this is a wall that I can handle, this is a wall I can live with because this wall is perishable, it will not last. The cheese is spoiled. It just means that for the regulations it’s not to be consumed.”

Cavallaro made a name for himself in the 1990s when he covered a New York City hotel room in melted cheese - a stunt that became a media sensation. Since then, he has been using his art, largely including food, to make political statements, such as his infamous Chocolate Jesus.

Check out the promo for the cheese wall below:

Despite his obsession with a border wall, Trump himself has waffled on what materials should be used to build a barrier.

Could be concrete, could be slats:

Dec. 2, 2015: At a rally in Virginia, a young boy asked him, "What are the walls going to be made out of?" Trump replied, "I'll tell you what it's going to be made of. It's going to be made of hardened concrete, and it's going to be made out of rebar and steel. And — you know, it's so easy, that's what I do."

Jan. 18, 2016: "They have no idea how to do it. Whereas with me it's easy — that's like easy. When you build buildings like I build buildings, believe me, walls are easy. No windows, no nothing — precast concrete going very high."

Aug. 11, 2016: "The politicians would come up to me, and they'd say, 'You know, Donald, you can't build the wall.' I said, 'You have to be kidding. You have to be kidding. Concrete plank, you have to be kidding. Precast, precast, right? Boom. Bing. Done. Keep going.'"

In December, the plan was still mostly nebulous. Is it a wall? Slats? A see-through barrier? Some sort of pitted fruit?

Heck, he has even admitted that it does not have to be called a "wall" at all.

In January, Trump joked that the wall - or barrier or fence or whathaveyou- could be called "peaches."

"This is where I ask the Democrats to come back to Washington and to vote for money for the wall, the barrier, whatever you want to call it, it's okay with me. They can name it whatever they can -- name it Peaches."

And just like that, a meme was born.

Trump declared a national emergency to secure funding for his wall/fence/barrier/peaches in February but has spent much of his free time playing golf.

More from People/donald-trump

JD Vance; Jen Psaki
Johannes Simon/Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Vance Gets Brutal Reminder After Accusing Jen Psaki Of 'Attacking' People For Praying Following School Shooting

Vice President JD Vance was criticized after he lashed out at MSNBC host Jen Psaki for saying that "prayer is not freaking enough" to end school shootings after a shooter killed two children and wounded 17 others during the first week of classes at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.

Psaki spoke out on X shortly after the shooting occured, to stress that "thoughts and prayers" don't actually address or prevent mass shootings and gun violence overall:

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @andydouglas.trumpboy's TikTok video; President Donald Trump
@andydouglas.trumpboy/TikTok; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Video Of Little Boy Sobbing After Finding Out Trump Is A Real Person Goes Viral—And We Totally Get It

Whether it was Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, or some other important facet of childhood, most of us found out when we were kids that something we loved did not exist, and it was absolutely devastating and world-changing.

But imagine there being something that you deeply disliked or feared, only for you to find out that it actually exists on the same plane and in the same timeline as you.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @originalsugarphly's TikTok video
@originalsugarphly/TikTok

Woman Stunned After Best Friend Of 23 Years Ends Friendship Over Her 'Mom Shorts'

We will all have friends who come into our lives for a reason, for a season, or for a lifetime. There are those situational friendships, like from work or school, that dissolve when we exit that space, and there are friendships that might form from knowing the same people.

Then there are those tried-and-true friendships that we think will truly stand the test of time—but even those sometimes fracture under pressure. And sometimes for the most ridiculous reasons.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @nurse_xtina129's TikTok
@nurse_xtina129/TikTok

Woman Sparks Debate By Putting Out Small Fire At Dunkin' Donuts After Workers Ignored It

Imagine hitting that afternoon slump and seeking out your favorite caffeinated beverage: a highlight in an otherwise dumpster fire kind of day. But then you arrive at your coffeehouse of choice—and there's literally a fire.

TikToker Cristina Conklin was waiting in line for a beverage at Dunkin' Donuts in Warwick, New York, when she became either a villain or a hero, depending on who was watching her TikTok video.

Keep ReadingShow less
Former Republican congressman and Fox News host Trey Gowdy
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

MAGA Fumes Over Fox Gun Control Talk

The nation is reeling after yesterday’s mass shooting at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis, where a gunman opened fire during a Catholic school Mass, killing two children and injuring more than a dozen others. The tragedy has not only shaken the community but also reignited the national debate over guns in America—this time sparked by an unlikely voice.

Former Republican congressman and Fox News host of Sunday Night in America, Trey Gowdy—long seen as a staunch defender of gun rights and a past recipient of National Rifle Association contributions—surprised many of his own allies when he called for a national reckoning on firearms access.

Keep ReadingShow less