A famous musician long rumored to be the elusive guerrilla artist Banksy has been unmasked — as his partner in crime.
For years, the identity of the world-famous street artist has remained a closely-guarded secret, although many names have been put forward.
One of the more serious suggestions has been someone famous in their own right — singer Robert “3D” Del Naja with the popular British group Massive Attack.
The 61-year-old has long been suspected of being the polarizing graffiti artist — both he and Banksy were known to have grown up in the UK city of Bristol at around the same time.
Banksy was also reported to be a fan of Massive Attack, who were set to play a concert at his faux theme park, titled “Dismaland,” in 2015 before dropping out.
The trip-hop pioneers — who last played the US in 2024 — had a string of hits in the 1990s, including “Unfinished Sympathy” and “Teardrop.”
Del Naja started as a graffiti artist, and his visual art has appeared on every one of Massive Attack’s record sleeves.
But according to a Reuters exposé, which named Banksy as 51-year-old Robin Gunningham, Del Naja is actually friends and collaborators with the artist.
“Robert Del Naja, Gunningham’s graffiti idol, friend, and a man himself rumored to be Banksy, has on at least one occasion been his secret painting partner,” the report said.
The investigation, which involved speaking to insiders, experts, and witnesses who Gunningham entering Ukraine in 2022, said the former mystery man now goes by the generic name David Jones so as to avoid detection.
Jones, Del Naja, and a third man, photographer Giles Duley, crossed into war-torn Ukraine on Oct. 28, 2022, the report found, with a source quoted as saying they spotted the singer in the same hotel as Banksy.
“You’ll never f–king guess who I met? Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack!” the source said.
Del Naja has also previously been forced to deny he is Banksy.
“Rumors of my secret identity are greatly exaggerated. It would be a good story but sadly not true. Wishful thinking, I think,” he told the Daily Mail in 2016.
Del Naja went on to describe Banksy as a “mate” who had been to several Massive Attack concerts.
Banksy’s lawyer Mark Stephens told Reuters his client “does not accept that many of the details contained within [the] enquiry are correct,” adding that the findings “would violate the artist’s privacy, interfere with his art and put him in danger.”
“It protects freedom of expression by allowing creators to speak truth to power without fear of retaliation, censorship or persecution,” he added.
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