Mr. Patten, a veteran journalist who has lived in Los Angeles for almost a decade and has worked at Deadline for just over five years, said the man may have been unable to remove the star because “these things are set very deeply in cement.”
Mr. Trump’s star, in the 6800 block of Hollywood Boulevard, has been the target of numerous attempts at defacement in the last several months. Since Mr. Trump announced his presidential bid, it has been hit with paint and graffiti, which have been cleaned off.
In July, a tiny barbed-wire fence, complete with American flags, was erected by an artist around the star.
Earlier this month, Time magazine interviewed a photographer who has been documenting people’s reactions to the star. The photographer’s images included ones showing the symbol smeared with what appears to be ketchup and adorned with a Bernie Sanders bumper sticker.
Even when visitors do not try to deface the star, they sometimes use it to express their feelings toward the Republican nominee, like a young man who posed with both middle fingers extended above the star in this Instagram photo.
-The New York Times