A 30-year-old artist has been arrested after a prank where white tarps were used to make the “Hollywood” sign read “Hollyweed”, police in Los Angeles have said.

Zachary Cole Fernandez (30) turned himself in on Monday, just over a week after the prank on New Year’s Day and was booked on suspicion of misdemeanour trespassing.

According to The Guardian, Mr Fernandez was recorded by security cameras changing the sign early on January 1st.

He had already claimed credit for the stunt in a Vice magazine interview, but police had not previously confirmed his involvement.

He will be released on his own recognizance and must return to court on February 15th.

The sign has been altered to say “Hollyweed” before – in 1976, after the passage of a state law relaxing rules concerning marijuana.

The same prankster, Danny Finegood, changed it to read “Ollywood” in 1987, in protest over positive treatment of Col Oliver North, the marine at the centre of the Iran-Contra scandal, The Guardian reports.

He also made the sign read “Oil war” in 1990, in protest at the first Gulf war. Finegood died in 2007.

Mr Fernandez told Vice that Mr Finegood was his inspiration for the prank and that he wrote a tribute to him on the bottom left of the “O”.

The Hollywood sign was erected in 1923 and originally said “Hollywoodland”, to advertise a new housing development in the hills above Los Angeles.