Photos Portrayed as Israeli Actress’s ‘Destroyed’ Hollywood Star Actually Show Trump’s Vandalized Plaque
By Macrina Wang
What happened: Both supporters and critics of Israel are sharing images purporting to show that Israeli actress Gal Gadot’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star was smashed soon after she was awarded the honor in a March 18, 2025, ceremony.
Context: Gadot’s award ceremony was disrupted by dozens of pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters, who were, respectively, criticizing or supporting the awarding of the star. Gadot is a vocal advocate of Israel and has frequently expressed support for her country during the Israel-Hamas war.
A closer look: Two of the photos show a damaged Walk of Fame star with debris around it, while the third shows the debris alongside a pickaxe.
Pro-Palestinian TikTok creator @MarigTalksGossip shared a screenshot of Gadot’s supposedly damaged Hollywood star with an on-screen caption that stated, “Ahahahah… do it again!” The video received 172,300 views and 17,900 likes in a day.
Pro-Israel commentator Oren Barsky shared one of the images and stated: “So they ‘freed Palestine’ by ruining Gal Gadot’s star. Once again, they show us the culture of hatred and destruction they represent.” The since-deleted post received 93,600 views and 2,700 likes in four hours.
Actually: The photos show President Donald Trump’s Walk of Fame star after it was demolished by a vandal in 2018.
Reverse image searches conducted by NewsGuard revealed that the photos showed Trump’s star after it was destroyed with a pickaxe on July 25, 2018, by a California man named Austin Clay, who claimed responsibility for the incident.
Clay said in a since-deleted YouTube video published after the vandalism that he destroyed the star as a “one-man protest” against Trump and the Republican Party. In November 2018, he pleaded no contest to a charge of vandalism and was ordered to pay $9,400 to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which administers the Walk of Fame.
One of the earliest posts misrepresenting the photos was published on March 18 by an X page labeled as a “parody account” that received 29 million views and 582,000 likes in two days.
Gadot is the first Israeli actor to be granted a Walk of Fame star. She starred as “Wonder Woman” in film director Patty Jenkins’ 2017 take on the superhero franchise. She has also appeared in “Death on the Nile” and “Red Notice,” among other films.