Un mural de Banksy se ha convertido en el epicentro de una disputa legal tras la denuncia del Bethnal Green Working Man’s Club, ubicado en el este de Londres, que sostiene que la obra fue retirada sin autorización y puesta a la venta en Estados Unidos.

La pieza, conocida como Yellow Lines Flower Painter (2007), muestra a un trabajador vestido con peto, sentado sobre un bote de pintura y sosteniendo un rodillo. A su lado, una flor de gran tamaño surge de las líneas dobles amarillas de la calle, fusionando el arte urbano con el entorno vial londinense. Actualmente, la pintura se encuentra en Colorado, lejos de su ubicación original en el club social londinense.

La controversia comenzó cuando los fideicomisarios del Bethnal Green Working Man’s Club presentaron una demanda contra uno de sus propios empleados, Warren Dent, junto a otros acusados, según informó el Financial Times. El caso ha puesto en el centro del debate la propiedad y el destino de una obra de arte callejero que, por su naturaleza efímera y su contexto, plantea desafíos legales y éticos singulares.

De acuerdo con el antiguo contable del club, quien trabaja para la firma Capital & Co, el secretario del club, Stephen Smorthit, habría acordado vender la obra a Dent en 2019 por £20,000 (USD 27.000). Este acuerdo, según la versión presentada, permitió a Dent encargar al restaurador de arte Chris Bull, propietario de la empresa Fine Art Restoration (también demandada en el proceso), la retirada del mural. Bull recibió además el encargo de restaurar la pieza, que había sufrido actos de vandalismo con grafitis.

Tras la extracción exitosa de la obra, Bull la prestó a la galería de su padre en Aspen, Colorado, para una exposición celebrada en marzo del año pasado. Según Bull, Dent y tres miembros del club aprobaron el préstamo. Antes de su traslado a Estados Unidos, Yellow Lines Flower Painter fue asegurada por una suma cercana a USD 750.000.

No obstante, la demanda presentada el mes pasado por tres fideicomisarios del club—Paul Le Masurier, Alan Milliner y Kerry Smorthit—sostiene que nunca autorizaron a Dent a adquirir la obra. Kerry Smorthit es hija del secretario del club, lo que añade un matiz familiar a la disputa. Los demandantes alegan que la pintura fue puesta a la venta en Estados Unidos de manera ilícita y exigen su devolución, argumentando que Dent carece de derechos de propiedad sobre la misma.

Por su parte, Bull y Fine Art Restoration han manifestado su intención de impugnar la demanda. “Solo estamos nombrados porque tenemos la obra en nuestro poder y estamos dispuestos a entregarla si nos lo solicitan”, declaró Bull al Financial Times. Esta declaración sugiere que la empresa de restauración no busca beneficiarse de la posesión del mural, sino que se encuentra en una posición intermedia a la espera de una resolución judicial.

El caso ha atraído la atención no solo por la notoriedad de Banksy, sino también por las complejidades legales que rodean la propiedad y comercialización de arte urbano. La oficina de Banksy, Pest Control, así como los tres fideicomisarios, Dent y Capital & Co, declinaron hacer comentarios al respecto, según el Financial Times.

El valor de las obras de Banksy en el mercado del arte ha experimentado un crecimiento notable en los últimos años. Su récord en subasta se sitúa en £18,6 millones ($25,5 millones), alcanzado por Love is in the Bin (originalmente titulada Girl with Balloon), que se autodestruyó parcialmente en una subasta de Sotheby’s en 2018, generando un fenómeno mediático internacional.

Sin embargo, las obras murales del artista británico presentan dificultades adicionales para su valoración, ya que Banksy no emite certificados de autenticidad para estas piezas, lo que complica su legitimación en el mercado secundario.

La problemática de la autenticidad y la procedencia ha quedado patente en otros casos recientes. El año pasado, la obra Happy Choppers (2002), que representa una flota de helicópteros adornados con lazos rosas, no logró encontrar comprador en una subasta en Newcastle. A pesar de contar con una estimación de £500,000 (USD 680.000), la ausencia de un certificado de autenticidad y el hecho de haber sido retirada de la pared de un edificio de oficinas en Shoreditch, también en el este de Londres, desincentivaron a los potenciales compradores.

Vice President JD Vance is leveraging the social media platform Bluesky, which is an X competitor commonly used by liberals, to troll Democrats just one week after joining the platform and subsequently becoming its most blocked user, Fox News Digital found. 

«Hello Bluesky, I’ve been told this app has become the place to go for common sense political discussion and analysis. So I’m thrilled to be here to engage with all of you,» Vance said in his inaugural Bluesky post June 18, before sharing a quote from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ solo concurring opinion earlier in June upholding a Tennessee law banning transgender surgeries for minors. 

«To that end, I found Justice Thomas’s concurrence on medical care for transgender youth quite illuminating. He argues that many of our so-called «experts» have used bad arguments and substandard science to push experimental therapies on our youth,» Vance said. «I might add that many of those scientists are receiving substantial resources from big pharma to push these medicines on kids. What do you think?»

Bluesky is a social media alternative to X that is dominated by liberal voters and Democratic elected officials after they fled X following President Donald Trump’s November 2024 victory. 

X is owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk, who was a top Trump ally on the campaign trail and who previously oversaw the Department of Government Efficiency under the Trump administration. 

JD VANCE ACCOUNT SUSPENDED, THEN QUICKLY RESTORED, ON LIBERAL X COMPETITOR

Vance’s first BlueSky post followed the platform mistakenly banning his account after it was flagged as a potential Vance impostor account, Fox Digital previously reported. 

«We welcome the Vice President to the conversation on Bluesky,» the company told Fox News Digital in an email response, noting, «There have been many past attempts to impersonate Vice President JD Vance on Bluesky as he is a public figure, and the jd-vance-1.bsky.social account was flagged as part of that pattern by our automated systems, and temporarily suspended.»

«The account was quickly reinstated within 20 minutes of the suspension, and we’ve also added a verified badge to help users confirm the authenticity of the profile,» the statement added.

CALIFORNIA GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM CHALLENGES VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE TO DEBATE: ‘HOW ABOUT SAYING IT TO MY FACE?’

Vance has become the most-blocked person on Bluesky since he first joined just a week ago, according to data posted by ClearSky, which keeps tabs on social media accounts that have been blocked by fellow users. Vance’s Bluesky account has been blocked by nearly 150,000 other accounts, ClearSky data reviewed by Fox Digital Wednesday afternoon showed. 

In the week since Vance joined the platform, he has repeatedly trolled Democrats, including following New York City’s mayoral primaries, when democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani trounced top competitor and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo at the polls. Mamdani’s victory is viewed as the Democrat Party moving farther to the left in New York City after national voters sounded off in the 2024 election that the party’s embrace of some left-wing policies alienated Americans. 

Widely seen as a liberal alternative to X, the Bluesky social media platform saw an explosion in new liberal users following President Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory.

«Congratulations to the new leader of the Democratic Party,» Vance quipped on Bluesky while tagging Mamdani.

A handful of other Republicans also took to social media Wednesday to mock Democrats for nominating the most liberal candidate in their pool of prospective mayors, including New York Rep. Elise Stefanik and the National Republican Congressional Committee, Fox Digital previously reported. 

Vance took another apparent shot at Democrats Monday, when he posted to Bluesky, «President Trump just said to Iran’s nuclear program: no way jose.»

MARK CUBAN SAYS LIBERAL ALTERNATIVE TO X HAS BECOME ‘HATEFUL’ DUE TO LEFTIST GROUPTHINK

The message followed outrage among Democrats a few days prior on June 20, when Vance referred to Democrat California Sen. Alex Padilla as «Jose» Padilla when asked about the senator’s removal and detainment from a Department of Homeland Security press conference earlier in June to protest federal immigration raids in Los Angeles. 

Sen. Alex Padilla slammed Vice President JD Vance for calling him «Jose Padilla.» (Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

«I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question,» Vance said during a press conference on June 20 when asked about Padilla, calling him by the wrong first name. «I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t a theater. And that’s all it is.»

REPUBLICANS USE MAMDANI BOMBSHELL VICTORY OVER CUOMO AS AMMUNITION TO BLAST DEMOCRATS AS EXTREMISTS

Padilla and fellow Democrats, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, criticized Vance for using the wrong first name. 

«He knows my name,» Padilla said Saturday during an interview on MSNBC, adding, «He’s the Vice President of the United States — you’d think he’d take the situation in Los Angeles more seriously.»

Vance had only posted nine messages to his Bluesky account as of Wednesday afternoon, including messages that were also posted to his far more frequently used X account. 

Vice President JD Vance, left, listens as President Donald Trump speaks to the nation. (Pool)

«I wonder if other VPs had as much excitement as I do,» he posted to X and Bluesky on Tuesday after Iran and Israel agreed to a ceasefire following the U.S. ordering strikes that destroyed a trio of Iranian nuclear facilities. 

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Vance added in another Bluesky message also found on his X account Tuesday, «We are seeing a foreign policy doctrine develop that will change the country (and the world) for the better: 1) clearly define an American interest; 2) negotiate aggressively to achieve that interest; 3) use overwhelming force if necessary.»

Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo, Paul Steinhauser and Marc Tomasco contributed to this report. 

Iranians are experiencing internal turmoil as authorities intensify a domestic security crackdown following the 12-day war in which three major nuclear sites were effectively destroyed. There have been reports of mass arrests and executions in the country.

Authorities in Iran began the crackdown following Israel’s June 13 airstrikes. It started with widespread arrests and an intensified street presence, according to Reuters, which cited activists and officials.

The harsh measures have dampened hopes—among some in Israel as well as Iranian dissidents—that the country could see an uprising and regime change. However, no significant demonstrations have taken place yet, Reuters reported. The outlet also noted that some on the ground expressed frustration with the Islamic Republic’s policies, which they believe led to the war against the U.S. and Israel.

LEAKED IRAN REPORT IS BASED ON ONLY ONE DAY OF INTELLIGENCE REPORTING, SOURCE SAYS

«The regime convicts and imposes the death penalty based on trumped-up charges to spread terror among the Iranians. Meanwhile, Israel’s Operation Rising Lion has helped the public realize that the Iranian regime is a paper tiger that is weaker than ever,» Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) Senior Iran and Financial Economics Advisor Saeed Ghasseminejad said in a statement.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said Monday that 705 individuals had been arrested in Iran on «political or security-related charges.» 

This report was echoed by Islamic Republic-run Fars News Agency, which said that 700 were detained for allegedly working with Israel.

A police officer stands guard as demonstrators wave flags and cheer during a gathering to honor Iran’s military forces, following the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, on June 24, 2025, in Tehran, Iran. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

US AIRSTRIKE ON NUCLEAR FACILITIES FOLLOWS YEARS OF IRANIAN PLOTS ON AMERICAN SOIL

In addition to the arrests, there are reports that three people in Iran accused of being Mossad spies were executed, NBC News reported, citing Tasnim, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The outlet also noted that the three were accused of bringing «assassination equipment» disguised as alcoholic beverages into the country. According to NBC News, citing Tasnim, the «equipment» was allegedly used in the assassination of a public figure.

People move past a large banner featuring portraits of slain leaders from Iran-aligned armed groups, including Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, in central Tehran, Iran, on May 1, 2025.  (MOHAMMADALI NAJIB/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

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Nonprofit Iran Human Rights (IHR) warned that at least six others on death row for allegedly spying for Israel are at risk of execution. The organization also said that at least nine individuals have been executed this year on similar charges.