David Bowie statue vandalised with ‘feed the homeless’ a day after its unveiling
It took just under 48 hours for the world’s first David Bowie statue to be vandalised.
The tribute to the singer, which was unveiled in the unlikely location of Aylesbury on Sunday, has has been covered with black graffiti – and it appears to have been daubed with a misguided message of social justice.
It appears that the graffiti merchant was in conflict over the daubing, spraying the message ‘feed the homeless first’ onto the statue’s plinth – and then ‘RIP DB’ on the wall behind it.
CCTV footage has revealed the vandal to be a white man wearing jeans and a woolly hat.
He spent about two minutes defacing the installation of the queer icon, reports the BBC.
The town’s Deputy Mayor has pointed out to the vandal that the statue, named Earthly Messenger, was created on the back of a series of grants and Crowdfunding from Aylesbury resident and Bowie superfan David Stopps.
Stopps raised £100,000 in total.
“I want to point out that this statue received precisely £0 of public money,” said Aylesbury’s Deputy Mayor Mark Willis.
“That’s right, £0. It was entirely funded through crowdfunding, by members of the public, myself included.
“One of the charities I support monthly is Shelter as homelessness and poverty are absolute scourges on society that need solving,” he added.
In response to the vandal, another superfan Alex Laurent said he will donate £5000 to a homeless charity if he hands himself over to the police.
“If the perpetrator hands them self into the local police, I’ll donate £5000 to the homeless,” he said to the Bucks Herald.
“Let’s see if they have the conviction to be convicted.”
Superfan Stopps asked townsfolk to consider changing the Aylesbury to “Aylesbowie” in celebration of the singer, where David Bowie made his debut as Ziggy Stardust.
Although it was called an “interesting concept” by councillors, the motion did not pass.
