In an old interview.. BBC reveals the real name of street artist “Banksy”

BBC excavates from its archives an interview with Banksy in which he reveals his first name

The British BBC Radio has dug up an old interview with the street artist Banksy in its archives, which it had never broadcast in full, and it appears to reveal the first name of the mysterious British artist, which is “Robbie.”

In this interview, which was conducted in 2003 and was revealed on Tuesday in a special episode of It’s a podcast The Banksy Story BanksyA BBC journalist asked the street artist if his name was Robert Banks, and he replied, “It’s Robbie.”

This interview is one of the rare radio interviews given by the world-famous artist, who has kept his identity secret since the beginning of his career, and whose works are sold for tens of millions of dollars.

The mystery of Banksy’s identity raised a lot of speculation, and there were many options regarding his first name, including Robin, Robert, and Robbie.

The former BBC cultural affairs journalist, Nigel Wrench, conducted this interview with Banksy in July 2003 on the occasion of the opening of his “Turf War” exhibition in London, and the artist was about 20 years old at the time.

The entire interview was not broadcast that day, but about 20 years later, while listening to a podcast about Banksy, the journalist remembered his interview with the graffiti artist, and found the entire recording on a disc that he kept at home.

In the interview, Banksy also compared his mural works to “fast food that is reheated in the microwave,” and believed that he did not have to apologize for the drawings he executed without permission in public places.

In response to a question about the illegality of his works, the artist, whose drawings express his opposition to Brexit, defense of immigrants, and support for Ukrainians in the war against Russia, gave the following advice to listeners: “Get out of your homes, cause damage, and have fun.”

The BBC podcast also provided the opportunity to listen to another interview conducted with Banksy on the American NPR radio station in 2005.

The program presenter asked him, “We assume that you are who you claim to be, but how can we be sure of that?” The guest only replied, “Oh, you have no guarantee of that.”

Banksy may soon be forced to reveal his name in a legal dispute between him and the company “Full Color Black” (FCB), which sells greeting cards inspired by his drawings.

The FCB is suing Banksy and the company “Pest Control,” which is responsible for issuing authenticity certificates for his works, for defamation, after the artist expressed his anger on Instagram about the similarity of their cards to his drawings.