Dolly Parton Hollywood star vandalism hit the Hollywood Walk of Fame just as repair work was getting underway Tuesday. Someone scratched over her name before the star could be restored, turning a planned fix into a cleanup at a memorial site that had already been drawing flowers, cards and other tributes.
Ana Martinez on the repairs
Ana Martinez, a Hollywood Chamber of Commerce spokesperson, said the star had already been cleared for planned repair work because of prior cracks. That schedule puts the damage in a narrow window: the tribute was set aside for maintenance, then vandalized before the work could begin.
Martinez also said the star had become a large memorial after Parton’s death at age 80. For visitors, that means the site was not just a sidewalk marker but a place where people were already leaving physical tributes, which makes the scratch-over more than a cosmetic problem.
Lore Corona on Monday
Lore Corona posted a video on social media Monday saying someone had vandalized the star by scratching over Parton’s name. She said she and her daughters were visiting the star and planned to leave flowers. “Somebody decided to do this about 10 minutes before we got here,” she said. “It just doesn't make any sense.”
A custodian at the scene told Corona that a woman kicked around candles that had been previously left there and “with the shards of one scratched the star.” That detail matters because it shows the damage happened in a space already covered with memorial items, not at an untouched display.
Hollywood Walk of Fame damage
The star had already been on a list of stars set to undergo repair work because of prior cracks, and Martinez said it had been cleared to make way for that work before somebody vandalized it. So the sequence is unusually awkward: a public tribute that needed repair anyway was scratched again while crews were preparing to deal with the original damage.
For anyone planning to visit the Hollywood Walk of Fame tribute, the immediate reality is that the star is now both a memorial and an active repair site. The only unanswered piece left in the story is who scratched over Parton’s name, and the damage on Tuesday makes that question harder to ignore than the cracks that started the process.
