LONDON, June 23 — Banksy should probably be thankful that there are so many cynics out there because UK DJ Goldie might have accidentally outed the mysterious street artist yet some are crying, “Publicity stunt.”
The apparent blooper happened when Goldie appeared in a recent podcast to discuss the commodification of graffiti.
He referred to the Bristol-born street artist who has managed to remain anonymous for 20 years as “Robert.”
This appeared to confirm popular speculation that the man behind the art is Goldie’s close friend and founder of legendary trip-hop band Massive Attack, Robert Del Naja.
Banksy has claimed to take inspiration from Del Naja who is himself a graffiti artist.
According to The Sun, Goldie said during the podcast Distraction Pieces: “Give me a bubble letter and put it on a T-shirt and write ‘Banksy’ on it and we’re sorted.
“We can sell it now.
“No disrespect to Robert, I think he is a brilliant artist. I think he has flipped the world of art over.”
But once those words slipped out, Goldie paused and changed subjects almost immediately, giving credence to the talk that the cat had been let out of the bag.
Last year, an investigative journalist appeared to find a link between the locations of many of the artist’s works and dates on Massive Attack’s tour schedule.
For his part, Del Naja has denied ties to Banksy in the past.
