This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Ever since Donald Trump announced his plans to run for president, his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles has been repeatedly vandalized and subjected to a rather creative assortment of indignities.
There was the artist who erected a miniature border wall, complete with barbed wire and a tiny American flag, along the perimeter of the terrazzo square last July. There was the man who demolished the star with a pick ax and sledgehammer in October. The star was promptly replaced, only to be defaced again — first with vulgar words scrawled in marker and later with a gold-painted toilet adorned with bold-lettered instructions to "TAKE A TRUMP."
But one recent visitor to Trump's star decided to show it a little love instead. Last week, a Trump supporter — Twitter user makenna—mg — scrubbed graffiti from the surface of the star, posed for a few photos and tweeted a message to her followers: "Stopped to clean realDonaldTrump Hollywood Star. Nothing but respect for MY President," she wrote, adding a pointed hashtag: .RaisedRight.
The tweet went viral, amassing over 55,000 retweets in the days that followed — and quickly inspiring a slew of parody tweets from those who preferred to pledge support to THEIR would-be presidents.
"Stopped to clean MerylStreep Hollywood Star. Nothing but respect for MY President," Twitter user jake—stubbs tweeted July 1, attaching a photo of himself grinning beside Streep's coral-colored star. His tweet was shared more than 92,000 times.
Streep's star wasn't the only one receiving sudden attention. Twitter users borrowed the original tweet's phrasing to salute comedian Danny DeVito, "Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe, rapper Pitbull and martial arts icon Jackie Chan. Actors who have portrayed presidents — Martin Sheen ("West Wing") and Julia Louis-Dreyfus ("Veep") — also got shout-outs (a big salad was delivered to Louis-Dreyfus' square, a joke die-hard "Seinfeld" fans might appreciate). Even fictional characters such as Godzilla and Shrek were deemed worthy of presidential respect.
Trump's star was awarded to him by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in 2007 for his role as producer and star of the reality show "The Apprentice."