'Epstein didn't kill himself': $120,000 duct-taped banana art vandalized

A $120,000 banana taped to a wall was vandalized a second time, after a New York performance artist initially ate it.

Photos and video posted Sunday from the Miami art gallery where the artwork was being displayed showed that someone had taken the banana and spray-painted "Epstein didn't kill himself" in its place.

Police arrested 46-year-old Roderick Webber for the graffiti vandalism. He is being charged with criminal mischief. "This is the gallery where anyone can do art, right?" Webber told security before his arrest, according to the Miami Herald.

Performance artist David Datuna ate the original duct-taped banana, which is on display at the contemporary art gallery, Perrotin.

He was not arrested. A gallery representative said, "He did not destroy the artwork." The artwork, titled "Comedian" and made by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, was made with the intent that the banana would be replaced.

Webber told the Washington Examiner that he vandalized the artwork because he believed the gallery was trying to pull a publicity stunt with Datuna. "It was clear to me that Maurizio and the gallery had coordinated with Datuna as a publicity stunt," he said in a Monday statement. "So, if they allowed it, great— but if they pressed charges, it would expose them as the frauds they are. They had me arrested— so now we know who they are, and the kind of people the art world are comprised of."

The vandalism comes as a part of conspiracy theory and viral meme that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein did not commit suicide in jail but was murdered. Several people have shouted the phrase on national television, including during C-SPAN coverage of the impeachment hearings.