We know the man who vandalized Donald Trump’s star on the Walk of Fame says he originally intended to remove it and sell it and donate the profits to victims of sexual assault. He didn’t succeed in making off with the star and is now facing criminal charges for destroying it with a pick ax and sledgehammer. Thanks to interviews with TMZ and the Los Angeles Times, we also now know:
- He’s looking forward to his case going to trial, saying "That’s what happens when you do something wrong ... there are consequences."
- He claims to have the "largest collection in the country" of Dr. Seuss memorabilia. A 2000 article in the Los Angeles Times doesn’t go quite that far, but does acknowledge Otis has "a wide-ranging collection of works" that include sketches and commercial drawings by Seuss, whose real name is Theodor Geisel.
- That same Times article refers to Otis as a "documentary filmmaker" who, at least at that time, was married to Lisa Henson, Jim Henson’s daughter and then-president of Henson Pictures.
- He’s a big Gandhi fan. He tells TMZ that he once "taught about Gandhi" but doesn’t say where. Otis also stirred up quite a controversy in 2009 by trying to auction off some items once owned by Gandhi, including his "1910 Zenith pocket watch [and] his steel-rimmed eyeglasses."
- He says he’s a house flipper, though he doesn’t give TMZ any examples of his handiwork.
- Otis also tells TMZ that his "great great great grandfather Elijah Graves Otis" invented the elevator, and that his great grandfather on his mother’s side invented Listerine.
Otis, a resident of Beverly Hills, was booked Thursday on suspicion of felony vandalism.
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