In broad daylight, in full view of a crowd of eager spectators, a man brazenly walked up to a freshly painted original Banksy and spray-painted a little tag over it.
The Guardian has footage of the incident here. From the report:
An image of a rhino appearing to mount a clapped-out silver Nissan Micra with a traffic cone on its bonnet appeared in south-east London on Monday and was confirmed as a Banksy on the artist's Instagram account.
Later in the evening a man in a balaclava with a can of white paint was filmed spraying a tag on it while a crowd shouted: "Don't do that."
By Tuesday morning the car had also been removed.
A spokesperson for the Royal Borough of Greenwich, the local authority where the rhino mural was located, said: "It's a real shame that a mindless vandal has defaced the mural, which has already drawn visitors and brought so much joy to many.
The crowd booed and jeered at the masked youth and watched on as he sauntered away.
While his exact motives are unknown, the act has certainly generated lots of PR for whatever the "$V" tag is meant to allude to. Streetwear? The accumulation of brownie points? Maybe I'll go conspiratorial and say that Banksy himself could have been behind the dastardly tag. Typically, though, his deliberate self-sabotage tends to be a lot more clever, so I'll go ahead and keep my tin foil hat stowed away.
Previously:
• Banksy speaks about Exit, Thierry/Brainwash, and filmmaking
• Banksy installed a stunning artwork in a hospital; its auction will raise money for healthcare
• Fantastic new Banksy video narrated by Bob Ross
• Myth-busting the self-shredding Banksy painting
• Banksy offers sculpture for £2 — with a catch
• Banksy does Detroit
• You could own Banksy's SWAT Van
