Park dedicated to Beastie Boys’ rapper defaced with swastikas

A Beastie Boys rapper has called on his fans to “stand up against hate” after a playground named after his bandmate was vandalised with swastikas and the words “Go Trump!”.

Adam Horovitz, known at Ad-Rock, railed against the president-elect at a rally at the park in Brooklyn named for Adam Yauch, who died of cancer in 2012 at the age of 47.

He told the crowd, which included Hollywood star Ben Stiller and his daughter: “I’m assuming we are all here because we think the same thing, that spray painting swastikas in a children’s playground is a messed up thing to do.”

He added: “This is about someone in New York City linking Nazi Germany to Donald Trump in a “hell yeah!” kind of way in a park where children play.”

After listing a string of hate crimes that have happened since election day on November 8, he said: “These incidents and this type of graffiti are popping up all over our country because we have elected a president that has given our children the message that is is ok to write “white power” in their high school hallway, that is is ok to attack women and girls, that Latinos and Muslims and Jews are bad people and that you can electro-shock the gay out of somebody.

“This is real, it’s happening at a rapid rate, we have to stand up against hate.

“This is home grown terrorism for real. I reject Donald Trump’s vision of America, New York City I’m asking you to do the same.”

The graffiti has since been removed and New York City Councilman Brad Lander has said police are investigating.

On election day, Horovitz retweeted a post saying: “Totally psyched to explain to my kids in the morning why America just elected a sexual predator endorsed by the KKK.”

The following day he wrote: “Equality and solidarity against fear and ignorance. Hold The Line.”