'Real Life Spiderman' Boldly Climbs the Sphere in Las Vegas
Despite the chilly winter winds blowing across the Mojave Desert, it's still shaping up to be a hot weekend in Las Vegas. Thousands of football fans are flying into town in preparation to watch the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs duke it out in Sin City for Super Bowl LVIII. Oh, and Spiderman is apparently in town too, I guess.
At least, that's how it looked Wednesday morning when a man was seen climbing free-handed up the side of the Las Vegas Sphere. Bystanders captured video footage of the death-defying free-climber scaling the side of the large spherical structure before he was taken into custody by police.
Undaunted at the prospect of climbing the largest spherical structure in the world, the man deftly climbed over the LED facade of the Las Vegas Sphere, even as cops amassed on the ground below him. According to the @dailymail, the man's death-defying stunt was all part of an elaborate anti-abortion demonstration.
This is Maison DesChamps, a man who describes himself as the "pro-life Spiderman." DesChamps, who is known online for free-scaling buildings in support of anti-abortion causes and other political issues, livestreamed part of his climb to the top of the Sphere on Instagram. In the stream and other posts, he claimed that he was attempting to raise money in order to convince a homeless pregnant woman to cancel her abortion appointment. Rolling Stone reported that his fundraiser raised $267 out of its $25,000 goal at the time of their reporting yesterday evening.
When DesChamps finally descended from the sphere, Las Vegas police were waiting for him. DesChamps was arrested, and KTNV reports that he is being charged with destroying property greater than $5,000 and conspiracy to destroy private property. At the time of KTNV's report, which was updated this morning, DesChamps is still being held on an $8,000 bond at the Clark County Detention Center.
A History of Unconventional Political Stunts
DesChamps, with his long history of politically motivated free-climbing stunts, is no stranger to legal troubles. Most of his numerous publicity stunts have led to his arrest. DesChamps's last tangle with the law in Las Vegas was back in August 2021, when, as ABC 7 Chicago reports, he climbed Aria on the Strip in protest of COVID mask mandates. He was also reportedly arrested after climbing the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco in 2022 and the Chase Tower in Phoenix, Arizona in 2023. Both of these stunts were in protest of abortion as well.
Phoenix Fire Captain Todd Keller, who was on the rescue crew for DesChamps' 2023 stunt, tore into the climber's reckless behavior while speaking with the Arizona Capitol Times last year.
"This is so dangerous," Keller told the paper. "You put not only yourself in danger, you put firefighters in danger. You put anyone else walking below or anybody around this incident in danger. This is an uncontrolled environment. This is Chase Tower, 40 floors up. Very, very dumb."
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