Zachary Cole Fernandez, a 30-year-old artist from Pomona, was arrested this Monday in Los Angeles for changing Hollywood’s famous sign into “HollywEEd” on New Year’s Day.
The Los Angeles Police Department stated that what appears to be Fernandez, all dressed in black, was caught on surveillance cameras at around 3 am in the morning.
In presence of his attorney, the Southern Californian acknowledged that he altered the landmark by hanging white tarps over Hollywood’s’ O’s to change them into E’s. Fernandez was released about two hours after his surrender on a $1000 bail. The prankster will have to return to court on February 15.
A few days after New Years, the artist had revealed to the online magazine Vice that he and his former wife, Sarah Fern, “mapped it out together and double checked measurements and everything.” They said they were both aware that they could have to pay the consequences of this prank soon.
The idea was a reference to an similar event that occurred on 1976 New Year’s Day. It was orchestrated by Daniel Finegood, a California State University student who wanted to mark the first day of the new categorization of possession of up to 1 ounce of marijuana in California. The infraction was no longer classified as a felony, but rather as a misdemeanour. The same joker also altered the sign in 1987 into “OLLYWOOD” to protest against Former U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and his responsibility in the Iran-Contra Scandal.
