King Charles’ new portrait was vandalised by two animal rights activists in London yesterday (June 12).
The activists stormed the Philip Mould Gallery in Pall Mall and defaced the new portrait with a giant Wallace head from Wallace and Gromit. The portrait was painted by Jonathan Yeo and was first unveiled at the gallery in May.
A video that has since gone viral captured the moment where the activists were filmed pasting the Wallace head over Charles face, along with a speech bubble that read: “No cheese Gromit, look at all this cruelty on RSPCA farms!”
The Animal Rising group took responsibility for the act on Twitter/X yesterday. “Click the link to find out why he has been Wallaced,” they posted, leading viewers to a website detailing their cause.
You can see the moment the portrait was defaced here:
An animal activists group has covered the new King Charles portrait with Wallace from Wallace & Gromit.
“No cheese, Gromit. Look at all this cruelty on RSPCA farms” pic.twitter.com/Z0Yl6hG1CD
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) June 11, 2024
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a charity in Wales and England. Foods that are labelled as “RSPCA Assured” are said to verify that the animals used for the product were raised in humane conditions.
However, the group claim they “found instances of poor animal welfare” on 45 of the sanctioned farms and the defacement was an attempt to raise awareness about the issue.
It comes at a time when many protesters are defacing artworks to raise awareness for causes. Back in January, a can of soup was thrown at the Mona Lisa in Paris by protestors and in 2022, a similar incident occurred with Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers artwork.
Meanwhile, Aardman Animations will return this year with a new Wallace and Gromit adventure. The animation house was founded in 1972 by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, first gaining traction in 1989 with the first Wallace & Gromit short A Grand Day Out, and Creature Comforts the following year.
2000’s Chicken Run, which starred Mel Gibson and Julia Sawalha, followed a group of chickens as they attempted to launch a desperate escape from a Yorkshire poultry farm.
The release is still the highest-grossing stop-motion film of all time, while the sequel Dawn of the Nugget arrived last year and featured the voices of Thandiwe Newton, Zachary Levi and Bella Ramsey among others.
The next film from Aardman, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, will arrive on Netflix this winter.