Christopher Walken purposely destroys Banksy artwork in BBC comedy finale

Banksy has been known to destroy his own artwork, but the British street artist was topped by actor Christopher Walken.

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Walken, who was appearing in Wednesday’s season finale of the BBC comedy series “The Outlaws,” used a roller to paint over a piece artwork by Banksy, which was on the side of a building in the artist’s hometown of Bristol, The New York Times reported.

A Banksy work, “Love is in the Bin” -- originally titled “Girl With Balloon” -- which was partially shredded after an October 2018 auction -- resold last month for a record $25.4 million in a Sotheby’s auction.

In the BBC show, directed by and starring comedian Stephen Merchant, Walken’s character is ordered to perform community service, according to The Guardian. He and several other characters wear high-visibility vests as they clean up graffiti from a wall on the side of a building in Bristol.

>> Banksy’s shredded painting resold for record $25.4M

Walken’s character, Frank, asks his probation officer Diane (played by Jessica Gunning) if he should paint over it. The distracted probation officer explains that all graffiti must be painted over, and Walken obliges, according to The Guardian.

Walken’s character knocks over a board to reveal a painted black-and-white rat and two canisters, along with Banksy’s name spray-painted on the wall in orange, the Times reported.

“We can confirm that the artwork at the end of The Outlaws was an original Banksy, and that Christopher Walken painted over that artwork during the filming of this scene, ultimately destroying it,” a spokesperson from Big Talk Productions, the show’s production company, said in a statement.

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Photos: Christopher Walken through the years Here are some memorable photos of actor Christopher Walken through the years. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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