MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A man accused of vandalizing a gallery wall at Art Basel Miami Beach has turned down a plea deal.
Roderick Webber, 46, allegedly wrote on the walls where a taped banana — that was sold for $120,000 — was once on display in Miami Beach in December.
Cellphone video showed the words, “Epstein didn’t kill himself” written in red lipstick on the empty wall.
A day before the Massachusetts resident’s alleged stunt, New York-based performance artist David Datuna ripped the banana off the wall and ate it. He called the act, “Hungry artist.”
Datuna was able to walk free that same day. However, Webber wasn’t so lucky.
“I just heard everyone talking about the banana every day, and I said, ‘You know, this is BS,'” Webber said. “It wasn’t just that we’re calling out the rich and super elite at Art Basel. It’s calling out the rich and the super elite — the powerful people that just do whatever they want. I have no regrets whatsoever. You know, being censored seems to be par for the course, so I’ll just continue to stand up for what’s right and what I believe in.”
He was arrested and charged with criminal mischief, despite Webber’s claims that it was performance art.
“According to the standard precedent they set, it’s not damage whatsoever,” Webber said. “I therefore claimed total innocence when I went in there in the courtroom.”
The judge gave Webber the opportunity to pay a $320 fine and do some community service to close the case, but he declined the deal.
“What I did at Galerie Perrotin — not a big deal,” Webber said. “If we’re continuing the theme of performance art, this is what needs to be done. The reality that we’re moving forward in is a dystopian, Orwellian future, and we need to speak out against that. If you’re an artist, and you’re not speaking to these things, then what the hell are you doing? You’re in the wrong profession.”
Webber has asked for a trial and is due back in court on Feb. 19.
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