John Lennon’s Hollywood Walk Of Fame Star Defaced

John Lennon’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was defaced days before what would have been his 73rd birthday.

The graffiti on Lennon’s Walk of Fame star included a smiley face, “Blackbird Rain was here,” and “It cost alot 2 win + even more 2 lose.”

Gillian Lomax, who spent six years on radio KLOS’s Breakfast with the Beatles, found the graffiti on October 5 while she was leading a A Magical History Tour group to the star, which is next to Capitol Records on Vine Street.

“Morons did it,” Lomax told The Hollywood Reporter. “Rather tacky. There was a group of them, judging from the different colored pens. I tried to rub it out, but to no avail.”

Lomax contacted National Beatles Examiner Steve Marinucci, who contacted Ana Martinez of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Workers scrubbed the graffiti off the star by noon Tuesday.

“We don’t mess around,” Martinez said. “I think Capitol is looking into seeing if there’s any video [of the crime.] They’re registered state landmarks. Those are my babies! We’ve had people destroy stars, cracking or prying out parts of the stars, and they do go to jail and they have to pay back for the repairs. We just had one recently damaged —Arsenio Hall’s, and a couple near him.”

John Lennon died on December 8, 1980, after he was shot in the back four times by Mark David Chapman. Lennon had autographed a copy of Double Fantasy for Chapman earlier that evening. Chapman remained at the scene reading J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, and told police, “I’m sure the big part of me is Holden Caulfield, who is the main person in the book. The small part of me must be the Devil.”

Chapman has been denied parole seven times since he was incarcerated in 1981. He is eligible for his next hearing in 2014.

Breakfast with the Beatles host Chris Carter and Jerry Rubin will meet at the John Lennon’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star to commemorate what would have been his 73rd birthday on October 9 at 6 pm.