{"id":838130,"date":"2026-03-20T09:46:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T09:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/838130\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T09:46:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T09:46:14","slug":"london-man-of-greek-descent-misidentified-as-street-artist-banksy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/838130\/","title":{"rendered":"London man of Greek descent misidentified as street artist Banksy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"London<\/p>\n

Photos circulating online and in some media outlets have misidentified Londoner of Greek descent George Georgiou, 69, as street artist Banksy following a Reuters report on the artist\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n

Some media outlets and others online have misidentified photos of a London man as the British street artist Banksy. The man, George Georgiou, [a Londoner of Greek descent who was born and raised in the city], is not Banksy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photos of Georgiou \u200bwere published after a Reuters investigation last week revealed Banksy\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n

The March 13 Reuters \u200cspecial report made public for the first time documents that confirm Banksy is Robin Gunningham. Gunningham has since taken the name David Jones, Reuters determined. Banksy\u2019s lawyer did not confirm or deny the artist\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n

Reporting the findings of the \u200bReuters investigation, media outlets including the New York Post, Britain\u2019s The Sun, and LADbible \u2013 along with widely \u200bviewed social media posts \u2013 published a photo of a grey-haired man in glasses and \u2060claimed or suggested that he was Gunningham.<\/p>\n

Rather, he is Georgiou, a 69-year-old man from London. Reuters \u200bdid not publish Georgiou\u2019s photo with its investigation.<\/p>\n

None of the news outlets that published photos of Georgiou \u200bresponded to requests for comment from Reuters. The New York Post has removed the photo from the report on its website, a comparison with an archived article shows.<\/p>\n

On March 18, Georgiou confirmed in a video call with Reuters that he \u200bis not Gunningham.<\/p>\n

\n

\u2018I\u2019m not Banksy. I\u2019m a maintenance man\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Georgiou is listed on Britain\u2019s corporate registry as a former director of \u200bhis son Alex\u2019s estate agency business, through which Reuters first made contact.<\/p>\n

In the video interview, Georgiou said he \u200chad received \u2060phone calls from up to 30 people a day about his mistaken identity in the last week, and the attention has grown to be \u201ctoo much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not Banksy. I\u2019m a maintenance man,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The viral miscaptioned photo was shot in late March 2024, when media first mistook Georgiou for the street \u200bartist.<\/p>\n

Georgiou told the MailOnline, at the \u200btime \u2013 and recounted \u2060again in the video call with Reuters \u2013 that it shows him overseeing a plastic sheet installation over a Banksy mural. That mural had been defaced days \u200bafter it first appeared on a north London property owned by Georgiou\u2019s son.<\/p>\n

Land \u200bregistry deeds reviewed \u2060by Reuters confirm the building has been owned by the son, Alex Georgiou, for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

Georgiou also denied being Banksy in the 2024 interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an old joke now,\u201d he said to Reuters \u2060in Wednesday\u2019s \u200bvideo call, adding that he\u2019d like people \u201cto get on \u200bwith it now\u201d and to be left alone.<\/p>\n

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photos circulating online and in some media outlets have misidentified Londoner of Greek descent George Georgiou, 69, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":838131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3939],"tags":[4021,4020,2766,4022,108590,77,2452,285,16,15],"class_list":["post-838130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-culture","tag-design","tag-diaspora","tag-entertainment","tag-media","tag-politics","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116260869651615430","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=838130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/838131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}