Donald Trump’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star destroyed with a pickaxe

Jamie Otis has said he wanted to 'mine' the star to raise money for the women who have accused Trump of sexual assault

Donald Trump’s star on the iconic Hollywood Walk of Fame has been smashed to pieces by a man with a pick-axe disguised as a city construction worker.

The man identified himself to Deadline as Jamie Otis and claimed to be trying to mine the star in order to auction it off and raise money for the women who have come forward with sexual assault allegations against Trump - women whom the presidential candidate has said he plans on suing after the election.

The terrazzo and brass star was located at 6801 Hollywood Blvd, near the Dolby Theatre where the Oscars are held, and was laid in honour of the Republican in 2007 during his lengthy stint hosting The Apprentice.

It is not the first time it has been vandalised. In July, an artist built a tiny wall around the star in reference to Trump's proposed wall between the United States and Mexico. The plaque has also had a reverse swastika and a mute sign spray-painted on it.

The incident took place around 5:45 AM with a few bystanders stopping to watch. None tried to stop the man. An LAPD police cruiser arrived at the scene around 6:15, but Otis had already departed.

The Walk of Fame stars are chosen by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and maintained by the Hollywood Historic Trust. The incident follows the failure of a petition to have Trump's star removed.

No fewer than 11 women have come forward over the past few months with allegations against the GOP candidate. Today, Full Metal Jacket and Stranger Things actor Matthew Modine recalled hearing about Trump's sexist behaviour in the workplace.

“I know someone who took a summer intern job with him, a 15-year-old boy, who noticed one day that the secretaries didn’t really speak English, that they didn’t know how to type, that they didn’t really know how to do secretarial work,” Modine told Variety.

“He thought it was his duty to tell Donald that they weren’t proficient at their secretarial work and he said ‘hey kid, I don’t hire them to be secretaries.”