Fact Check

Did 'Baracco Clintez' Smash Donald Trump's Walk of Fame Star?

Donald Trump's Walk of Fame Star was vandalized in July 2018, but the man responsible for it wasn't "Baracco Clintez."

Published July 27, 2018

 (Hayk_Shalunts / Shutterstock.com)
Image courtesy of Hayk_Shalunts / Shutterstock.com
Claim:
A man named Baracco Clintez was responsible for vandalizing Donald Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Shortly after news broke that Donald Trump's star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame had been smashed to pieces by a pickaxe-wielding vandal on 25 July 2018, the "America's Last Line of Defense" Facebook page posted a meme referring to the culprit as an "illegal half-Mexican half-black socialist Muslim" named "Baracco Clintez":

President Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was truly vandalized in July 2018. However, the person responsible for that destruction was not pictured in the above-displayed meme and was not named "Baracco Clintez." That appellation was clearly a joke based on an amalgamation of the names of President Trump's previous political opponent, Hillary Clinton (Clintez), and his presidential predecessor, Barack Obama (Baracco).

America's Last Line of Defense is part of a network of junk news pages that publishes political misinformation under the guise of offering "satire." The "About" section of America's Last Line of Defense's Facebook page explains that "nothing on this page is real":

Nothing on this page is real. It is a collection of the satirical whimsies of liberal trolls masquerading as conservatives. You have been warned.

Good Old Fashioned Liberal Troll Provided Fantasy presented as comedy to the left and a social experiment to the right. Please don't hurt the Trumpanzees. they'll be gone in a few years back to the shadows from whence they came and we'll be back to trolling Tea Turds.

The mugshot included in this meme does not picture a man named "Baracco Clintez" but rather March Ratney, who was arrested in 2016 after he fired more than a dozen shots at a police officer's home and patrol car.

According to CNN, the suspect actually arrested by police for his alleged smashing of Donald Trump's sidewalk star was a 24-year-old man named Austin Clay.

Sources

McQuaid, Russ.   "Man Fires 17 Shots Into Officer’s Patrol Car and Home, Screams He Hates Police."     WXIN-TV.   12 July 2016.

Levenson, Eric.   "President Trump's Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Was Smashed to Pieces."     CNN.   25 July 2018.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.