Six people recorded their journey to vandalize the Hollywood sign as well as their consequent arrests over the weekend, all part of an effort to advertise a cryptocurrency business.
The Los Angeles Police Department announced the arrests on Monday, saying the group “trespassed all the way up to the Hollywood Sign in an attempt to hang a banner on the ‘O.’” Hollywood officers, working with city park rangers, arrested all six without incident, the department said.
However, according to the suspects themselves, they were attempting to make history.
Jake Hillhouse, who goes by @SoIJakey on X, is a content creator and crypto entrepreneur who founded the platform Pump.fun — the business they were working to advertise on the Hollywood landmark. The site promotes itself as a “creator capital market,” where audiences can invest directly in internet personalities and influencers.
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A cryptocurrency crew is seen hanging a tarp on the Hollywood sign. September 2025. (@SoIJakey via X)
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A cryptocurrency crew is seen constructing a sign to hang on the Hollywood sign. September 2025. (@SoIJakey via X)
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A cryptocurrency crew is seen hanging a tarp on the Hollywood sign. September 2025. (@SoIJakey via X)
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A cryptocurrency crew is seen hanging a tarp on the Hollywood sign. September 2025. (@SoIJakey via X)
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Six suspects are seen being detained after vandalizing the Hollywood sign. September 2025. (Jakey Hilly)
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Six suspects are seen being detained after vandalizing the Hollywood sign. September 2025. (LAPD)
In a video posted to X, Hillhouse said the group wanted to be “one of the only” to successfully alter the sign, narrating each step of the attempt in stunt-like fashion. “Step one, get supplies. Step two, and probably the hardest step, build the tarp. … Step five — well, this isn’t really a step — we all got arrested,” Hillhouse said in the video, which also captured the group scrambling with ropes and tarps as a police helicopter circled overhead.
Hillhouse and his crew filmed the entire process, from buying materials to trying to secure the tarp, before cutting to footage of officers taking them into custody. In his caption, Hillhouse wrote: “We changed the Hollywood sign… HOLLYPUMP.”
Hillhouse’s post quickly went viral. As of 7 p.m. Tuesday, the video had been viewed more than 835,000 times on X since it was posted Monday afternoon.
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The stunt comes months after another cryptocurrency promotion at the same landmark. In February, KTLA reported on a person who scaled the sign and waved a flag advertising “Vigilante Token” before being detained by police.
Authorities have not said what charges Hillhouse and the five others arrested may face.
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