Banksy Posts Video of Rebel Terrorists Abusing Dumbo the Elephant on His Website

For the sixth day of his New York residency, Banksy shares a shocking short film.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

This morning, Banksy shared a video on his website titled Rebel rocket attack that starts out with rebels shooting missile weapons into the sky and yelling "Allahu Akbar." Suddenly, they start running as something comes towards them and lands (presumably what they succeeded in shooting), which ends up being the Disney animated character, Dumbo.

He captioned the clip on his Instagram with, "I'm not posting any pictures today. Not after this shocking footage has emerged. Go to banksy.co.uk for the full video." This video is a continuation of his New York residency called "Better Out Than In," where each day since October 1, the artist has been creating and sharing murals (and yesterday, an installation) around New York.

So far, fans think the appearance of Dumbo (whose Disney film originally came out October 23, 1941) references DUMBO, the part of Brooklyn "Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass." Others think it's a specific reference to terrorism in Syria, or a social critique about terrorism and rebellion in general, since Banksy has used elephants before to comment on the water crisis and poverty before (the live, painted elephant at his Los Angeles exhibition in September 2006 and the text painted on a heavily discussed water tank in LA reading "This Looks A Bit Like an Elephant"). Perhaps it also comments on animal violence, similar to his 2008 New York exhibition, Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill

No matter what Banksy's trying to say, this video is pretty shocking. Maybe we'll see his installation truck in DUMBO tonight? 

RELATED: 25 Things You Didn't Know About Banksy
RELATED: 25 People on Twitter Who Think They Know What #BanksyNY Will Do Next
RELATED: Banksy Announces Artist's Residency on the Streets of New York

Latest in Style