Getty Image / Aaron Chown-WPA Pool
The new King Charles portrait that looks more ominous than the painting of Vigo the Carpathian in Ghostbuster 2 has been vandalized by animal rights activists in London.
Footage of the vandalism quickly went viral across social media. It shows the vandals arrive at the portrait on display at The Philip Mould Gallery in London. They quickly paint a ‘Wallace and Gromit’ image across King Charles’ portrait that depicts the 75-year-old monarch surrounded by what I’ve assumed to be flames.
They also added a thought bubble that reads “No cheese, Gromit. Look at all this cruelty on RSPCA farms.” But the reality of the situation is this appears to be a stunt that will get them arrested and likely have no impact on King Charles’ portrait because if you look closely there is a shadow between the ‘Wallace and Gromit’ sticker and the art, suggesting that all they succeeded in doing was paint a sticker onto the glass covering the portrait.
Breaking @AnimalRising have vandalized the King Charles portrait at the Philip Mould gallery in London pic.twitter.com/XX4Ke6IDYM
— Sabrina Miller (@SabriSun_Miller) June 11, 2024
The animal rights group ‘Animal Rising’ immediately released a statement after the stunt. In the statement, they attempt to explain the underlying reasons they would vandalize the new portrait of King Charles:
Around 12:00 today (11/6/24,) two supporters of Animal Rising entered the Philip Mould gallery and proceeded to affix posters onto the painting of King Charles III [1]. One poster overlaid the King’s face with Wallace, from the popular Aardman stop-motion, whilst another was a speech bubble reading “No Cheese Gromit. Look At All This Cruelty On RSPCA Farms!”
The action brought attention to Animal Rising’s damning investigation of 45 RSPCA Assured farms, described as “indefensible” by Chris Packham and “effectively fraud” by Crown Court Judge Ayesha Smart [2] [3].
The lighthearted action played on the King’s love of Wallace and Gromit and his status as Royal Patron of the RSPCA [4]. Animal Rising has called on the King to suspend his support for the charity until they drop the Assured Scheme.
One thing’s for certain, with these stunts they gain a lot of attention. That is precisely what they are after.
Side note: we really aren’t talking enough about how the new portrait of King Charles looks like it was inspired by Vigo the Carpathian in Ghostbuster 2. It is the most haunted-looking portrait I’ve ever seen in real life.