TW: This column contains references to racism, sexual impropriety, animal abuse, and excessive idiocy. It may impact your faith in the human race. Read at your own risk.
A web3 influencer and founder of Phunks NFT, Ryder Ripps, published a viral blogpost illuminating a number of circumstantial but also astonishingly convincing connections between Bored Ape Yacht Club and neo-Nazism. In return, he was doxxed as famous rapper/chicken-sacrificer Azaelia Banks’ ex-fiancée — the same ex-fiancée who allegedly coerced her into minting a sex tape as an NFT.
Technically, this doesn’t qualify for our scam-victim-honoring Kramer Award — that distinction should probably go to the guy who lost $500k in ETH last week for not reading the smart contract’s fine print. I was tempted to designate it a Use Case — technically, unfortunately, ‘revenge porn’ does qualify.
But the spirit of the award is to recognize the unique, lunatic cruelty you get when you mix a potent new technology, human nature, and a few lizard brains. Rarely has it been more recognizable than here. In this case, there’s not even a lovable rascal of a rugpuller to reluctantly respect. Whether BAYC is racist (probably), Ripps is a clout-chasing asshole (definitely), and/or Banks beheads innocent poultry for Brujerian rituals (video evidence), there are no winners today.
Just a treasure trove of content for the next great American poem:
I saw the best minds of my generation invest in meme coin, hodling, shilled, racist…
