MUSIC
Gianluca Vacchi Creates a Masterpiece of Cringeworthy Narcissism
Vacchi, a chiseled silver fox and millionaire, has a 12 million + following, is attempting to parlay into a music career with the single "Come On And Show Em."
03.30.2019
Italian pop is huge in Italy, but only occasionally reaches the shores of America, gaining a foothold for a time, only to lose it.
Even the country's biggest stars are only slightly more than obscure among the majority of Americans, except for icons like Andrea Bocelli, whose oeuvre straddles the line between pop and classical music.
The latest to try and mine the lucrative American market is Gianluca Vacchi, a wealthy former businessman turned mega Instagram star. The handsome, silver-haired, copiously tattooed 50-something has 12 million+ followers on Instagram; he's something of a poster child for a middle-age characterized by fabulous living and enviably stringent self-maintenance.
Not content with the drooling adoration of a population three times the size of Ireland's population, Vacchi is trying his hand at music-making (as well as acting). Why not?
The video for "Come on and Show 'Em" opens with an aerial view of a yacht harbor — fitting, since he first went viral for a video showing the star, mostly naked, dancing aboard his yacht with a bikini-wearing, bronzed and lithe young woman.
50 year old Italian millionaire Gianluca Vacchi dancing to Ricky Martin with Italian model www.youtube.com
Vacchi is apparently quite a successful DJ, too: the video, set to a generic house beat and a dully repetitive hook, prominently features him manning the nightclub decks, his bare torso glistening with purples, reds, and blues.
The only reason for this song and video to exist is as proof of one man's blissfully opulent existence. It certainly isn't proof of any special musical inclination: the music is painfully unremarkable, and the sole lyrics are taken from the song's title and repeated for the entire length of the track. The whole kit and caboodle is a morbidly fascinating curio for our pathologically self-obsessed times, a head-scratching monument to self-aggrandizement that would make Trump's golden toilet blush red. The only thing we can say is, "complimenti, Ragazzo!"
Gianluca Vacchi - Come On And Show 'Em (Official Music Video) www.youtube.com
Matt Fink lives and works in Brooklyn. Go to organgrind.com for more of his work.
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Culture Feature
This Haunts Me: The Hilarious and Terrifying World of News Bloopers
There's an entire genre of YouTube videos that consists of nothing but news bloopers, and they're equal parts hilarious and panic-inducing.
09.18.2020
"Right after the break, we're going to interview Erik Weihenmayer, who climbed the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, but he's gay—I mean, he's gay, excuse me, he's blind."
Back in the early 2000's a young news anchor in New Mexico had a slip of the tongue on live TV that has enterred the annals of news blooper history.
Gay Mount Everest www.youtube.com
Cynthia Izaguirre had just gotten done reporting on a separate story discussing activism for gay rights, and was setting up a segment with the first blind man to climb Mount Everest, and her thoughts got twisted on the way to her mouth, resulting in a 14-second clip that would live on in infamy.
<p>It's such a simple moment, but—especially out-of-context—it's hard not to laugh at the emphasis she puts on the word "gay," as the big twist in the headline. It was the perfect, professional intonation for entirely the wrong word. A simple, but embarrassing mistake, made so, so much worse/funnier by the fact that it happened on live TV.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-632"></div>
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<!-- End Ezoic - under_second_paragraph - under_second_paragraph --><p></p><p>It must have been terrifying for Izaguirre, who was just getting started in the competitive field of TV news. She was reporting for the Albuquerque and Santa Fe Market, for KOAT <em>Action 7 News</em>, broadcasting to hundreds of thousands of homes, and a notable slip-up like that would be sure to get her bosses' attention, and had the potential to derail her budding career.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-633"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent1 - mid_content --></p><p>Fortunately Izaguirre was talented and personable enough that it didn't come to that. Her professional life has progressed smoothly, and today she is an anchor at WFAA in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas—one of the largest local news markets in the country, serving a population of millions every weekday. Yet, nearly 20 years later, those 14 seconds remains her greatest claim to fame.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9dd82039f3022557e2bb8d2c4193f88f"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/W45DRy7M1no?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Boom Goes the Dynamite</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W45DRy7M1no" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p><p>Once upon a time that kind of mistake would have existed only for the live audience, and maybe on a few VHS copies in the area. But other than that, it would have passed on and been quickly forgotten. That's no longer the case. With the possible exception of Brian "Boom Goes the Dynamite" Collins—does college news really count?—Izaguirre's slip-up was the first of its kind in viral news anchor screw-ups.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-635"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent2 - long_content --></p><p>While not quite at the level of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THfiHQZVSw0" target="_blank">the "Grape Lady" video</a>—of an injured Atlanta reporter, uploaded around the same time—the clip has still been endlessly reposted, amassing millions of views. The way one wrong word cuts through her practiced poise encapsulates what is so appealing about these moments. No one is as put together and unflappable as anchors and reporters in cities around the world pretend to be for a living.<br></p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-636"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent22 - long_content --></p><p>For hours each week these people put up a facade that blends approachable friendliness, earnest sincerity, and impossible professionalism. With all those components in a delicate balance, even the tiniest mistake can end up cracking through that surface—showing the sloppy, or giddy, or hateful human underneath.</p><p> Live broadcasts have always entailed some of that risk, but now that anything and everything on TV can be recorded and uploaded for the world to see, there are countless hours of these moments collected into "News Fail" compilations all over YouTube.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-637"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent3 - longer_content --></p><p>It's an entire genre that has swallowed up way too much of my time and mental energy. In general, these clips tend to fall into one of a four categories: falling down, cracking up, digging in, and letting loose.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9d02289fe563a4bc90a394245960c1fb"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nQmNVyQREPs?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">News Anchor Eats Cat Vomit On-Air!! FAIL!!</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://youtu.be/nQmNVyQREPs" target="_blank">youtu.be</a>
</small>
</p><p>"Falling down" as a category, does often involve an anchor or reporter slipping, tripping, or otherwise falling (e.g. "Grape lady"), but it also includes technical difficulties, and—of course—slips of the tongue a la Cynthia Izaguirre.</p><p> It's anything that can go wrong and give an anchor or reporter that moment of surprise, or embarrassment—followed by the struggle to recover. In 2020 this category has evolved to include loved ones and pets interrupting the at-home broadcasts. But the ultimate example remains the Connecticut anchor who decided to playfully eat a handful of spilled grape nuts off the floor...only to realize they are definitely not grape nuts.<span></span></p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-638"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent33 - longer_content --></p><p>"Cracking up," tends to be the most wholesome, as when Mika Brzezinski learned, on air, what a "furry convention," was. When you need to keep a straight face, any corny joke or slightly funny image can break through the composure and reduce broadcast professionals to fits of irrepressible giggling while they try to pull themselves together. It's joyous, and some news teams—looking at you <em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n8Tw45RXnM" target="_blank">Today Australia</a></em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n8Tw45RXnM"></a>—actually seem to cultivate these moments.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-639"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent4 - longest_content --></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b88b622aa17a17d70986ededf7f1bccd"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Tp76cHN2FDU?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Mika Brzezinski Learns About 'Furries' | msnbc</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp76cHN2FDU" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p><p>On the other end of the spectrum, "digging in" is when anchors and reporters get nasty. Sometimes it happens with a disagreeable guest, or a passerby who wants to interrupt the show, but more often than not, there is some underlying tension between people who work together every week, and the right trigger sets them off while they're live on-air.</p><p>The classic example is a spat between a reporter and an anchor at Fox 5's <em>NY Good Day</em> that was preserved for posterity in 2001, before the era of Internet video. But other great examples include the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0xB9uxKnec" target="_blank">Anchorage reporter who quit at the end of her segment</a> with an ad-libbed "**** it," or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioq_dNuZcAY" target="_blank">an anchor in Philadelphia letting their "playful jabs" at a meteorologist reach the level of high school bullying.</a></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9e78003d7ca9bf25177581369d0443c2"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AtzG3wdF_IU?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption..."><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioq_dNuZcAY">Anchor vs. Reporter on-air fight</a></small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioq_dNuZcAY">www.youtube.com
</a></small>
</p><p>These are the moments that remind you that you aren't watching cheerful news robots reciting current events. These are just people at their jobs, with all the mundane frustrations and in-fighting of a workplace stewing beneath the surface.<br></p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-640"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent44 - longest_content --></p><p>But the most distilled form of the news blooper—the ones that explain both why these clips are so appealing to weirdos like me, and why they must be nightmares for the people involved—are the "letting loose" clips. These are the purest peek behind the curtain—when people don't know they're being watched, and let their true colors show.</p><p>Sometimes that just means getting caught daydreaming or fixing their hair. Other times that means shouting and swearing, and has lost some people their jobs. It's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy-Y3HJNU_s" target="_blank">Bill O'Reilly being violently incapable of understanding the phrase "play us out,"</a> when recording an episode of <em>Inside Edition</em>. And it's also Isiah Carey on location in Arkansas, instantly dropping his news voice when a bug flies into his mouth, telling his production team "I'm dying in this ****ing country-ass, ****ed up town."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a2e40261435614e1c89d1b56f9438d4d"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/f8MNH7JuR7I?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">News Reporter swallows bug then loses it. Funny! Isiah Carey clip.</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8MNH7JuR7I" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p><p>That moment is often referred to as Carey "turning ghetto," but in reality this whole category is about code-switching. To one extent or another, we all adjust our behavior to fit a particular context.</p><p>Those of us with social anxiety tend to be hyper-aware of the performative aspect of socializing, and can start to panic that the performance will falter, and we'll be unmasked as frauds to our intense shame.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-641"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - bottomofpage - bottom_of_page --></p><p></p><center><script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- Popdust Mobile Banner 320x100 --><ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:320px;height:100px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4301469008561137" data-ad-slot="6952751205"></ins><script>
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</script></center><p></p><p>From that perspective, there's something cathartic about being reminded that even the people who code-switch at a professional level—who put on a live public performance every working day of their lives—occasionally falter.</p><p><span></span>On the other hand, taking a moment to consider how horrifying that exposure must be for people whose livelihood depends on successful fraud—the fact that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd8SJlvfrlA" target="_blank">careers can be damaged or even destroyed</a> in these moments, leaving just a painful and public memory—can kind of put a damper on the whole genre. If I allow myself to empathize, most of these clips are like little living nightmares, far worse than showing up to school in your underwear...</p><p>But since that's a bit of a dark note to close on, here's a clip of two Philadelphia anchors laughing hysterically at Ryan Lochte:</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0afcb984d2d504c87f365b6405e4f170"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UnceMoPtVfE?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Ryan Lochte Interview Makes Anchor Cry!</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnceMoPtVfE" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p>
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European Panel Officially Rules that We Are All Banksy Now
Now that Banksy's "Flower Thrower" trademark has been revoked, anyone can profit off his work.
09.17.2020
This week anonymous street artist Banksy officially lost the European trademark to his "Flower Thrower" mural.
The guerrilla graffiti artist had engaged in a prolonged legal battle with the small greeting card company Full Colour Black—which was selling products featuring the image of a Palestinian man throwing a bouquet of flowers. But now a panel at the European Union Intellectual Property Office has announced their decision to revoke the artist's trademark on the grounds that he could not definitively prove himself to be the mural's creator.
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQyMTIyNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNzAyMTA3NX0.p05Eq8mXwW7gPH5qfG0cwJaxhMMEUbGBnLwloAtaDOU/img.jpg?width=980" id="3f664" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="eeaa3c02ea4c037347119b40ce626b30" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Banksy Flower Thrower Mural">
</p><p>The trademark—which was established through Banksy's "handling service," Pest Control, back in 2014—is distinct from the traditional method for an artist to protect their work through copyright. For a copyright to be valid, the creator must be positively identified, which was not really an option for Banksy, the famously anonymous graffiti artist—who has made a name for himself out of being nameless.<br></p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-632"></div>
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<!-- End Ezoic - under_second_paragraph - under_second_paragraph --><p></p><p>Trademark, by contrast, is intended to help consumers identify genuine goods based on their branding. It's why Wal-Mart doesn't sell $5 Gucci knock-offs. Essentially, Banksy had attempted to avoid exposing his identity by operating as a brand rather than an individual. But in order to defend that trademark, there had to be a business using that branding. Enter <a href="https://grossdomesticproduct.com/" target="_blank">Gross Domestic Product</a>.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-633"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent1 - mid_content --></p><p>Last Fall, Banksy introduced his online store along with <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/521125/banksy-opens-london-art-shop-same-week-he-sets-12m-auction-record/" target="_blank">a physical store front in the Croydon area of South London</a>. The store offered "solutions for wealth" including a "clutch" consisting of a brick with some leather straps attached for nearly $1000, a faux tiger-skin rug resembling the flayed, cavity-riddled corpse of Tony the Tiger, and—critically—prints of "flower thrower."</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-634"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent11 - mid_content --></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQyMTIwOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMjQ5MTM1M30.UIRlcZ5gybVpj4Psp3iikO9mnteBoiJCZKjWvUsyHYk/img.jpg?width=980" id="fc068" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6f968e71de13caa87eb17ee8b9035ef7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="gross domestic product">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">A view into the Gross Domestic Product Storefront in Croydon</small></p><p>If Banksy had been satisfied with allowing the store to function outwardly as a simple cash grab, the plan might have worked. Unfortunately, he wanted the world to know that he was too cool for anything like that.<br></p><p>Referring to the whole ordeal as "possibly the least poetic reason to ever make some art," Bansky explicitly acknowledged that his true motivation for launching Gross Domestic Product was to defend his trademark. A note posted at the Croydon storefront stated that "This shop has come about as a result of legal action. A greeting cards company are trying to sieze [sic] legal custody of the name Banksy from the artist, who has been advised the best way to prevent this is to sell his own range of branded merchandise."<span></span></p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-635"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent2 - long_content --></p><p>Unfortunately for Banksy, trademark law explicitly states that a business must be operating in good faith—in genuine pursuit of profit—in order to retain a copyright. So it's not that surprising that <a href="https://www.worldtrademarkreview.com/brand-management/gross-domestic-failure-banksy-trademark-portfolio-risk-after-eu-registration-declared-invalid" target="_blank">the EUIPO came back with a decision</a> stating that: "Banksy was trying to use the sign only to show that he had an intention of using the sign, but his own words and those of his legal representative, unfortunately undermined this effort."</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-636"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent22 - long_content --></p><p>What is somewhat surprising is that <a href="https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/012575155" target="_blank">the panel's statement</a> went further, indicating that Banksy's efforts to retain the rights to his work while concealing his identity were futile—that trademark is subject to the same problems as copyright, because he can never prove himself to be the true owner of his work.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-637"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent3 - longer_content --></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d7d7facd4e3557cd99486ef1fc5c1acd"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xoe3Nn5vuBg?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Who is Banksy?</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xoe3Nn5vuBg" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p><p>As the panel put it, Banksy "cannot be identified as the unquestionable owner of such works as his identity is hidden ... Therefore, the filing of a trademark cannot be used to uphold these rights which may not exist, or at least may not exist for the person claiming to own them."<br></p><p>The panel also stated that, "Banksy has chosen to remain anonymous and, for the most part, to paint graffiti on other people's property without their permission, rather than to paint it on canvases or his own property," In other words, if you want to hide who you are in order to avoid the consequences of violating other people's property rights, you basically nullify your own property rights.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-638"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent33 - longer_content --></p><p></p><center><script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- Popdust Mobile Banner 320x100 --><ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:320px;height:100px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4301469008561137" data-ad-slot="6952751205"></ins><script>
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</script></center><p></p><p>Considering <a href="https://www.popdust.com/banksy-overrated-2645155215.html" target="_blank">how long it's been since anyone was really upset at their property getting the Banksy treatment</a>—it's the "vandalism" equivalent of throwing a gold brick through someone's window—it's hard not to read some stuffy spite into the EUIPO's statement. They are the enforcers of the established order of society, and if Banksy wants to sit on the sidelines and criticize the established order, then they don't have to do him any favors.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-639"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent4 - longest_content --></p><p>What this means for the future is that any and all of Banksy's artwork—not just the "Flower Thrower"—may be subject to unregulated reproduction within the European Union. Essentially, unless Banksy decides to reveal his identity, anyone on Earth has as much claim to his creations as he does.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQyMTI1Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzODA0NTM3MX0.y4IkeLmPOyfCtHcfAk4BABoxqy5zNcNaTnaKyBynO3c/img.jpg?width=980" id="45b70" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d76f06edfe50e309ad6a62272394c726" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Ash snow banksy">
</p><p>You could move to Paris tomorrow (if not for the fact that Americans are currently barred from the EU...), and open up a store selling nothing but Banksy-branded merchandise—from Hip-Hop Rat to Balloon Girl, to that kid catching ash on his tongue. You could even tell all your customers that you're Banksy, and there's seemingly nothing <del><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1034538/Graffiti-artist-Banksy-unmasked---public-schoolboy-middle-class-suburbia.html" target="_blank">Robin Gunningham</a></del> Pest Control could do to stop you.<br></p><h2></h2><h2></h2><p>With his trademark officially cancelled, you have as much legal claim to Banksy's art and secret identity as anyone else. We are all Banksy now.</p>
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