Tagging Along With the Viral Anti-Trump Street Artists Turning L.A. Into Their Canvas

As Donald Trump finished his record-length State of the Union address earlier this year, a group of artists drove to a cul-de-sac off Echo Park Lake in L.A. and got to work. The three men dressed in loose-fitting work pants and hoodies unloaded two laser projectors (one for backup), some lenses, a laptop and battery packs onto carts and brought them to the middle of a pedestrian bridge that crosses over the 101. In the anonymity of darkness, the members of the guerilla art collective VJayBombs set up their gear with the confidence of practice.

Within minutes, the projector was warming up and aligned with the 100-foot-tall wall of the L.A. Downtown Medical Center. Then, a final review of the video to be projected was made.

“Did you put sweat on the Statue of Liberty?” Cat, a co-founder of the group, asked. “That’s sick.”

“Looks good to me,” said Bev, another co-founder. He then caught himself: “Go back to ‘immigrant’ for a second. ‘Immigrant’ was spelled right, yeah?”

And with that, the laptop was connected to the projector, and the video was put out for the world to see (or, at least drivers passing by on the freeway below). The roughly 45-second animation — projected without authorization — looped for more than 30 minutes and satirized the State of the Union. It showed Trump at a lectern holding the Statue of Liberty hostage, vomiting gold feces and wearing a medal around his neck while slogans like “Immigrant Bad!” and “Forget the Files” flashed behind him.

Ken, the third co-founder, hopped a fence and walked down to the edge of the freeway itself. He whipped out his phone as cars sped by less than 10 feet from his face and filmed the projection. The video would soon go live on Instagram and TikTok, but for now, Ken was livestreaming to the group’s nearly 300,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok.

VJayBombs formed at an apartment complex in Koreatown. Ken, Bev and Cat (all three are pseudonyms) were neighbors in the complex who all worked as filmmakers. Together, they would project visuals and other videos onto the side of the building during house parties. But the idea soon expanded. “The original concept wasn’t necessarily political, it was more like, ‘Let’s do artistic imagery on buildings,’ ” begins Ken, citing New York subway graffiti and Banksy as inspiration.

“But let’s say something controversial,” Bev interjects. “If you’re gonna say something, say something.”

In June 2024, after Joe Biden’s disastrous debate against Trump, the artists took to a residential stretch of Koreatown to project their first piece, urging him to step down. Not a month later, they went viral with a projection referencing “Hawk Tuah” and showing the GOP bending a knee to Trump on the side of a multistory office building in downtown L.A. overlooking the 110 freeway. “That one got a lot of traction online,” says Bev. “It was the first viral one.”

The virality would continue to grow with each installation. In January, an anti-ICE projection was reposted by Don Lemon to millions of views, and even CNN came calling. The group’s most popular video came in February — a spoof of the Super Bowl called “the Redacted Bowl,” showing Trump, Steve Bannon, Bill Gates and others as football players with their stats as number of references in the Epstein files.

“There are two sides of VJayBombs: There’s the in-person side, which I think is super cool when you see it in person because it almost feels like seeing something that you shouldn’t be seeing,” explains Ken.

“You feel lucky to be there,” adds Bev. “Like, you caught it, and it’s only up for, what, an hour?”

“And then there’s the other side, which is the online push of it,” continues Ken. “A lot more people are going to see it online than in person, no matter what.”

Back at the pedestrian bridge over the freeway, a young woman appears at the edge of the bridge. The group pauses in confusion as she approaches. “It was my dream to find you guys,” she announces. Was this a prank? Was this staged? “I was just walking by and I saw you. I can’t believe it. I’m such a fan.” She takes a photo with her phone of the crew.

“If you don’t mind just not posting our faces,” Bev says.

She nods. “You’re so cool,” she continues, her Russian accent becoming apparent. “I like how you’re not scared of anything. Because, in my country, if you will say something, you will be killed that day.”

After a few beats of admiring the group and the video, the woman leaves.

“Well, that was interesting,” says Cat. “Was she just walking home and saw us? I don’t understand.”

“I don’t know,” says Bev. “Definitely a first.”

This story appeared in the June 3 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.