Another racism scandal has broken out around Yuga Labs, publisher of the well-known NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club. The company’s previous social media manager has resigned after racist and anti-Semitic tweets that he published for years on the short message platform X became public. The NFT brand has also long been suspected of using right-wing codes and symbolism. The company has not yet made a public statement on the current allegations.
No trace of remorse
Apparently unnoticed, Shpend Salihu, who is active on Twitter under the alias NGBxShpend, has written a large number of xenophobic tweets over the years. Just a few days ago, the previous social media manager was confronted with his statements by users of the platforms. Yuga Labs is now being criticized for not having intervened and thoroughly checked the employee.
This from a Twitter user collaged tweets are riddled with tasteless, racist and anti-Semitic statements. In one Salihu trivializes the atrocities of the Nazi regime: “Hitler got the best K/D in history,” says the tweet posted in 2016. “K/D” stands for “kill/death ratio” in shooter games. The macabre statement: Hitler had the best ratio of opponents defeated and deaths suffered. In others, among other things, he makes derogatory comments about people of the Jewish faith. He published his most recent tweets in 2020.
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On twitter Salihu showed little remorse after it became known: “I in no way want to apologize for the words or actions, but just to say that I know that I posted these things and that the day would come when I would have to own up to them.” He didn’t remove the posts because “deleting them would make it look like I was hiding.”
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Always having trouble with the Bored Ape Yacht Club
The Bored Ape Yacht Club is one of the most famous, expensive – and at the same time controversial NFT brands. Goes in summer 2022 a video went viral, which accuses the project of incorporating right-wing codes and symbols. In addition to the use of monkey images, a common racist stereotype, the pseudonyms under which the Yuga Labs founders appear in public are said to consist of Nazi ciphers. Another accusation relates to the logo of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, a skull that is said to be based on the emblem of the SS division. Yuga Labs denied the allegations.
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The accusations were brought forward by media artist Ryder Ripps, which recently lost a trademark lawsuit against Yuga Labs. Ripps had launched an NFT collection based on the Bored Ape Yacht Club. According to the court ruling, this violated trademark rights. Yuga Labs was awarded $1.6 million in damages.
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