President Donald Trump's star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame was found vandalized (not for the first time), and the incident has spawned a slew––of all things––Harry Potter references.
In an act of defiance against the Trump administration, Austin Clay gouged out the president's name from the star at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. He then turned himself in an hour later at the Beverly Hills police station where he was charged with suspicion of felony vandalism and held on a whopping $20,000 bail.
And now, thanks to the internet, the beleaguered president was brought into the world of Hogwarts and is being compared to the nefarious dark lord: Voldemort.
Clay, 24, was caught on camera destroying the horcrux.
The internet's avuncular bearer of wisdom, George Takei, asked Twitter to locate the other horcruxes.
Overheard: "Someone smashed Trump's star on the Hollywood walk of fame. Now he's down to six horcruxes." So, Twitterdom. What are the other six?
For those rusty on their Potterspeak, a horcrux is a fragment of a dark witch or wizard's soul hidden in living or inanimate objects for the sole purpose of maintaining life even after said wizard's body is destroyed. In the books, Voldemort split his soul seven times.
Assuming the star along Hollywood Boulevard was one of Trump's horcruxes, Twitter stepped up to the challenge to identify what the other six might be.
His hair was a popular suggestion.
The theory of Trump's hair being a possible horcrux went even further.
One user was quick to remind Twitter that one other horcrux was destroyed.
George Takei's tweet was an instant sensation.
And then there's this: Trump isn't on the same level as Voldemort.
This wasn't the first time Trump's star was destroyed. Two years before Wednesday's incident, James Otis also took a pickax to the pavement to rip out Trump's name in 2016 just before the presidential inauguration.
As if the story couldn't get any more fascinating, Otis offered to pay for Clay's $20,000 bail in full upon hearing what he did.
TMZ reported that Otis – the heir to the Otis elevator – pleaded no contest for defacing the star two years ago and served three years probation, 20 days of community service, and was required to pay $4,400 to cover the cost for repairing the star.
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