In a recent article published on June 24, the owners of Bored Ape Yacht Club called artist Ryder Ripps and YouTuber Philion’s assertions that they are Nazis “bullshit.”
“We’ve been the object of a bizarre misinformation campaign accusing us — a bunch of Jewish, Turkish, Pakistani, and Cuban pals — of being covert Nazis.” Despite the fact that the @ADL, which works to defend Jewish people throughout the globe from such bigotry and defamation, has proven this isn’t true, trolls are still circulating stupid conspiracy theories online and utilising them to sell fake NFTs (surprise! ),” the organisation stated in a statement.
An hour-long YouTube video on Philion’s channel earlier this week set out a series of assertions about the founders’ alleged connections to Nazism and encouraged Twitter followers to protest against the organisation using the hashtag #BURNBAYC. The goal was to persuade well-known Ape holders to destroy their NFTs.
BAYC has been under fire in recent months, primarily from US-based artist Ryder Ripps, who said on his website that he has been “investigating[ing] substantial linkages between BAYC and subversive online nazi troll culture” since December. He released RR/BAYC in mid-May, a collection of NFTs that mimicked the designs of the original BAYC NFTs.
Ripps and Philion’s assertions revolve around the concept that the BAYC collection contains subtle references to Nazi ideology that only those highly entrenched in internet subculture would notice. They cite putative parallels between the BAYC emblem and the Nazi Totenkopf (a skull-and-crossbones motif), online names used by the founders, words in family members’ social media accounts, and numerals contained in the collection that may have importance to right-wing extremist societies.
BAYC’s answer explained why they picked certain names and designs, including emails documenting the creative process for the logo, which they stated was inspired by punk, streetwear, and skate references, nautical flags and pennants, and antique yacht club flags.
“We didn’t want to take ourselves too seriously, so the club is shabby and divey. Everything about the BAYC was designed to exude irreverence and ridiculousness… Overall, we believe it’s insane that these conspiracy ideas have spread. It demonstrates the power that a deranged online troll may wield “the founders saiid.
