Breaking down the conspiracy theory about Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Nazi ties

The NFT group has been hit with allegations of racism in the past week, spearheaded
by LA artist Ryder Ripps If you’ve ever waded into the Bored Ape Yacht Club
discourse on social media (condolences), you’ve probably already formed a fairly
strong opinion on the latest wave of extortionate NFTs to hit the virtual art
market. Comprising thousands of one-off, two-dimensional ape avatars, the BAYC
series proved polarising from launch in April 2021, when all 10,000 images — then
priced at the equivalent of just under $190 — sold out within a single day. Since
then, Bored Apes have drawn outrage from various corners of the internet and the
art world. Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones, for one, argues that the craze is
“all about ego and money, not art”, and should bury any romanticism about the once-
bright future for NFTs. Others have suggested that the Apes, alongside crypto
artworks such as Beeple’s $69 million Everydays, signal a broader decline.
Elsewhere, owners of the artworks have come under fire from tech experts, who have
joked about their lack of understanding regarding NFTs, and general incompetence
(see: the guy who accidentally sold his Ape for one hundredth of the intended
price). Then, there are the allegations of neo-nazism among BAYC creators Yuga
Labs, but we’ll come to that in a moment. First, it’s worth noting that Bored Apes
also have their fair share of supporters, who are more than willing to put their
money — and lots of it — where their mouths are. Nowadays, the entry point is
closer to £200,000, and Apes regularly fetch prices north of £300,000 on NFT
marketplace OpenSea. Among the buyers is Eminem, who reportedly dropped 123.45 ETH
(roughly £334,000) on a BAYC illustration dubbed EminApe in December last year.
Many other owners flaunt their slack-jawed digital assets as wildly expensive
Twitter icons. Yes, you can simply right-click and download the JPEG file, but
apparently that’s not the point. Given all of this interest, it’s not surprising
that thousands of users dropped into a Twitter space on January 3, to discuss
accusations that Yuga Labs has incorporated Nazi codewords and imagery into its
designs. Below, we unpack the ensuing drama, and whether Bored Ape owners really
should be worried about owning alt-right art. WHERE DID THE CONTROVERSIAL CLAIMS
ORIGINATE? Like all good controversies, this begins on social media, with a
conversation amplified by crypto commentator loldefi (who, for the record, stated
that he was “on the fence” about the claims beforehand).  “I really hate how this
has become people with Apes blindly defending potential racism because they have
Apes,” loldefi writes in a January 3 tweet. “Instead of objectively viewing the
racism argument and conducting respectful debate to move closer to a conclusion.”
In the name of respectful debate, loldefi went on to launch a Twitter space later
that day, drawing in thousands of people wanting to listen or share their views.
Besides the thousands of Bored Ape enthusiasts that flooded the space, lodefi
publicly invited another figure central to the conversation — LA-based artist Ryder
Ripps — to weigh in, which makes sense. For the last month, Ryder himself has been
compiling what he claims is evidence of the BAYC’s neo-Nazi links in a series of
inflammatory Twitter threads. AND WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE OF NAZI CODES, EXACTLY?
“Nothing weird at all that the grinning apes are made by a guy whos name is an anti
semitic joke and whos company name is a nazi obsession (sic),” Ryder Ripps writes
in a January 3 tweet. “Totally normal.” The tweet is accompanied by two images: an
article from the neo-Nazi news site the Daily Stormer, titled ‘Symptoms of the Kali
Yuga’, and a screenshot of BAYC co-founder Gargamel’s Twitter account. In case
you’re not up-to-date on your alt-right imagery, the ‘Kali Yuga’ reference is
supposed to link BAYC with a fairly obscure idea about cultural rebirth through
destruction, which has been adopted by fringe right-wing groups (see also: the
‘Boogaloo bois’). Gargamel, meanwhile, is an antagonist in the Smurfs, long
criticised as an antisemitic caricature. Elsewhere, Ryder pulls out imagery such as
the BAYC logo, which shows an ape’s skull on a black background, and places it
alongside an elite Nazi patch with a similar design. Both skulls, he notes, have 18
teeth (a number often used as alphanumeric code for Adolf Hitler). According to the
New Yorker, the Bored Ape Yacht Club website also launched on the date of Hitler’s
death, April 30, which he identifies as another dog whistle. “As a professional
artist, designer, and Jewish person, I’ve known about racist images for a long
time,” Ryder Ripps tells Know Your Meme, in a January 6 interview on the
controversy.“I felt compelled to speak up because it's the right thing to do and
felt it was deserving of a larger dialogue.” WHAT ABOUT THE APES THEMSELVES? As
Ryder also notes in the Know Your Meme interview: “The act of disparaging someone
by comparing them to an ape/monkey goes back hundreds of years. There is a word for
it, ‘simianization.’” The connotations of trading well-trodden racist symbols
hasn’t passed other commentators by, either, such as Freddie Gibbs, who writes in a
January 11 tweet: “That monkey nft shit be lookin like some sambo racist shit to
me.” Besides the imagery taken directly from the company, Ryder’s Twitter exhibits
several Bored Ape illustrations (because again, you can do that). The captions
emphasize what, he suggests, are traits that are “intended to represent Black
people and Asian people”, such as gold chains, grills, and a kamikaze headband. He
also singles out an Ape from a mobile video game based on BAYC, which is pictured
wearing a red Hawaiian shirt patterned with blue leaves. “The Ape in the BAYC
videogame is wearing THE EXACT SHIRT of the racist boogaloo boy poster child” in
this Wall Street Journal article, he suggests, though it only really bears a
passing resemblance. HOW HAS BORED APE YACHT CLUB RESPONDED? Without reference to
the conversation that blew up on January 3, the team behind Yuga Labs took to
social media the same day, obliquely debunking the claims of racism. In a Twitter
thread, they begin with the origin of the company’s name, writing: “We're nerds,
and Yuga is the name of a villain in Zelda whose ability is that he can turn
himself and others into 2D art. Made sense for an NFT company.” As for the decision
to feature apes, as opposed to another less inflammatory animal, they say that they
drew from the crypto community’s long tradition of “affectionately” referring to
themselves as apes. The logo? It was simply inspired by a ramshackle yacht club,
and the skull is supposed to represent that fact that the apes are so bored that
they’re “bored to death”. The name Gargamel isn’t mentioned, but — as if pre-
empting the trouble it would cause — the man behind it broke down its origin in a
November 2021 Rolling Stone article, saying: “(Gargamel is) a name I ridiculously
gave myself based off the fact that my fiancée had never seen The Smurfs when we
were launching this.” Elsewhere in the January 3 thread, the founders of Bored Ape
Yacht Club discuss the diversity of their respective backgrounds — “Jewish, Cuban,
Turkish, Pakistani” — and how surprised they were that the club got so big. Read
the whole thread below. SO, WHAT’S THE VERDICT? Obviously, there’s plenty of
evidence stacked up against Bored Ape Yacht Club, as proven by a short scroll
through Ryder Ripps’ Twitter feed, or the numerous arguments between Ape
enthusiasts and aspiring cryptographers over the course of the last week. However,
it goes without saying that allegations of Nazi ties should be taken seriously, and
perhaps Twitter isn’t the place to do that (especially when there’s still no
concrete proof). Admittedly, there’s some sketchy imagery that’s worth keeping an
eye on, but the rise of artists like Beeple has already proven that the NFT market
is littered with bad taste, and it seems like there’s a pretty good chance that
this is just more of the same. Update (January 13, 2022): In a response to this
article over email, Ryder Ripps claims that he has been “getting attacked by alt-
right Nazis” since first bringing light to the subject on social media. “Nobody has
logically refuted any of these questionable coincidences nor addressed the racist
overtones of siminiazed cartoon grinning apes dressed in hip hop clothing being
traded on the Open Sea by predominantly white men via their Yacht Club,” he adds in
the email. “I have dedicated a lot of time to researching this and as an expert in
the field of internet culture, with many credentials, I, and many others, feel very
confident these accusations are founded.” He’s so sure, in fact, that he has
apparently contacted the FBI about Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Nazi ties, and claims
that the law enforcement agency “feel it’s compelling enough to investigate”.

Gargamel hates Boss for a Day

Don't know which parts are the worst: Squidward telling SpongeBob he'll mess up and
then deciding to quit (as always), Patrick being mean and quitting, or Mr. Krabs
refusing to congratulate SpongeBob for taking over in his absence.
Meme: www.deviantart.com/fumulover/a…Creator: www.deviantart.com/fumulover

How Seriously Should We Take This Bored-Ape Conspiracy Theory? + More Questions
About the Week’s Art News

Curiosities is a column where I comment on the art news of the week, sometimes
about stories that were too small or strange to make the cut, sometimes just giving
my thoughts on the highs and lows. Below, some questions posed by the events of the
last week… 1) What's With This 'Bored Apes Are Nazis' Thing? I started this column
last year because it felt like culture was melting down, and sometimes the best
thing to do was laugh at it. Fortunately, 2022 is starting off in a much calmer,
more reasonable groove… no, just kidding, people's brains are still running out of
their nose and ears. Mere days into the new year, the Bored Ape Yacht Club-the NFT
collection of "edgy, haphazardly constructed art pieces" (in Rolling Stone's
admiring words)-has been rocked (very slightly) by accusations that it is actually
coded neo-Nazi propaganda designed to… make lots of money because people don't know
it is neo-Nazi propaganda… and then… I am already confused. The face of the BAYC-
Is-Nazi-Propaganda movement is artist Ryder Ripps, best known these days for the
NFT he put out with his rapper ex Azealia Banks last year, I Fucked Ryder Ripps,
featuring audio of the two in the sack. And, more recently, for selling NFTs
incorporating the sexpictures from Hunter Biden's stolen laptop. The controversy
over coded alt-right messages in BAYC began in a Twitter Spaces chat called "The
BAYC Racism Controversy," but Ripps has taken manfully to the cause, culminating in
an interview with KnowYourMeme last week where he made the case for the
prosecution. The big pieces of evidence are: -"Yuga Labs," the name of the company
that makes the Apes, is alleged to refer to the "Kali Yuga," an esoteric idea of a
recurring age of demonic struggle that leads to cultural rebirth. "Bored Ape Yacht
Club" is said to be a knowing reference to the (vanishingly small, extremely
obscure) "Kali Yuga Surfing Club" ("surfing club" in the latter instance referring
to an alt-right forum where people post web content to surf). By coincidence, Yuga
Labs posted a thread where they explained their origins, saying that actually their
name was inspired by a villain in the 2013 video game Legend of Zelda: A Link
Between Worlds. A little a bit about us to start off the new year and what's
coming. 1. What's the inspiration behind the name Yuga Labs? We're nerds, and Yuga
is the name of a villain in Zelda whose ability is that he can turn himself and
others into 2D art. Made sense for an NFT company. - Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) January
3, 2022 -The BAYC ape skull logo looks like an elite Nazi skull-and-crossbones
patch, minus the crossbones. What's more, both have 18 teeth, with 18 being
"alphanumeric code" for "Adolf Hitler," according to the Anti-Defamation League
hate symbol database. oh one more thing about these logos, they have the exact same
amount of teeth in the scull, i have yet to find another ape skull drawing with 18
teeth. pic.twitter.com/hbIsWnGvX3 - (((RYDER RIPPS))) (@ryder_ripps) January 7,
2022 "It's even hard to find human scull drawings with 18 teeth," Ripps writes.
(Actually, it's pretty easy-it happens a lot when you show skulls in profile, as is
the case here or with these two or this one or also this one. This took me less
than 10 minutes to find, but it's 10 minutes I won't get back.) -One of the still-
anonymous quartet of founders' pseudonyms is "Gargamel." He explained to Rolling
Stone that it was "a name I ridiculously gave myself based off the fact that my
fiancée had never seen The Smurfs when we were launching this." This seems a
reasonable explanation-though I hate to see his girlfriend's shameful secret
exposed like this. Ripps has an alternative take: the Smurfs villain has long been
thought to be an anti-Semitic caricature. Screenshot of the Twitter profile of BAYC
founder Gargamel. -Another BAYC founder is "Gordon Goner," who told Rolling Stone
he chose the name because it sounded like he was in a punk band. Noting that the
BAYC has hosted anagram puzzles on its site, Ripps has done the hard work to unveil
the fact that Gordon Goner actually hides the words… "Drongo Negro." I'll pause to
let that sink in and also for you to curiously google what "drongo" means (it's
Aussie slang meaning "dumb"). It can't be a coincidence. The name, Ripps
postulates, "has no meaning outside" of the potentially coded racist phrase. Which
is true, unless you count equally obscure anagrams like the reference to the
military's "Gorgon Drone" or the slacker-pirate alter ego "No Dong Roger." -The
Bored Ape on the Rolling Stone cover has what is alleged to be a Nazi admiral's
hat, as proven by the hat's skull insignia. Except that the white color clearly
just looks like a garden-variety captain's hat, with a cackling Bored Ape logo in
it, suggesting the state of the poor dumb ape's worm-eaten brain. -Some of the Apes
have Hawaiian shirts, which are a symbol for the far-right Boogaloo movement
(and/or the Parrothead movement). Some of the Apes rock military attire of various
kinds, like the "Prussian Helmet" or WWII fighter gear or Vietnam War-era military
jackets. Some wear togas with laurels, a coded reference to the alt-right hunger
for a return to Western greatness. At the same time, some also wear Russian fur
caps sporting the Hammer and Sickle, i.e. the BAYC "Commie Hat" attribute-which is
not a symbol particularly loved by the alt-right at all. The opposite. Some also
wear multi-colored beanies and bunny ears. Screenshot of a Bored Ape rocking the
"Commie Hat" attribute. -The BAYC project launched on April 30, which is the
anniversary of Hitler's death, Ripps has revealed. -What's more, the BAYC "Prison
Jumpsuit" attribute has the number "019807" on its breast, which Ripps helpfully
decodes: take out the 0s and it's 1987-the very year another Nazi, Rudolf Hess,
died! To the year! OK, there is a lot more, but these are the most solid pins in an
everything-is-connected corkboard of the BAYC controversy. Slogging through it all
makes me feel like a Mutant Ape Serum has been applied to reality. Dig into it if
you dare. The NFT community has definitely taken note, but the publicity hasn't
done Ripps a ton of favors (he'd already run afoul of the CryptoPunks community for
CryptoPhunks, his line of NFTs featuring the same art, only flipped). Foes have dug
up, among other things, screenshots from Azealia Banks's Instagram stories, which
seem to blame Ripps's NFT fever for their breakup: We go meet his mom in Palm
Springs, everything is cool…. Then he gets upset about beeple stealing the idea for
some dumb collage and starts getting manic about NFT's. Next Ryder coerces me into
putting the sextape up because he's obsessed with shock value and clout chasing and
says he wants to make a million dollars selling NFT's… Now he's threatening to
release the visual component to the sextape without my permission saying "if you
don't fuck with me I won't fuck with you." Yuck-o. As for BAYC, the most logical
conclusion is still that the founders were trying to make a quick buck off the NFT
explosion, like dozens and dozens of other people, but so encased in a certain
corner of internet culture where "apes" are synonymous with crypto-mania that they
didn't stop to think that building an ape avatar collection with "Hip Hop" and
"Pimp Coat" attributes might potentially, possibly read as offensive if they ever
hit it big. Time will tell if its founders are actually exposed as a secret cabal
of sinister alt-right masterminds with a plot to simultaneously sell doofy profile-
pic art to celebs and encode secret messages about a race war. If race war is their
objective, it would probably be a shock to the celebs like Chris Rock with whom
they have officially collaborated! But the BAYC founders aren't doxxed (that is,
public with their identities), so people can think what they want about them. It's
hard to tell if Ripps is trolling us, being sincere, or if even he doesn't know the
difference anymore. His Twitter bio now reads: "artist / desinger/ nazi hunter."
But if he's really going to prove his claims, he's going to need more than an Alex
Jones rant's worth of actual evidence. 2) Is This Sponcon… the True Masterwork? TMZ
Executive Producer Harvey Levin unveils IGT's TMZ Video Slots at the Global Gaming
Expo 2015 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center on September 30, 2015 in Las
Vegas, Nevada. (Photo courtesy Getty Images.) If I told you that Masterworks.io,
the company hoping to sell the public on the idea of owning tradable shares in
blue-chip artworks, did a sponsored content partnership with Boat International,
that would make sense. It would also be true! Less obvious-but maybe more true to
Masterworks' final goal of making day-trading fractional art shares mainstream-is
their sponcon team-up with TMZ, the scandal sheet known more for its coverage of
the Tiger King saga than for its fine-art coverage. The head/subhead combo says it
all: "This Platform Makes It Easy For Poor Schlubs Like Us To Invest in Fine Art!"
and "GET IN ON THE ARTSY ACTION … Here's a Way to Invest!!!" All those exclamation
marks-you know it's real!!! As real as Ayesha and Steph Curry's open relationship.
3) Don't You Know That Birds Aren't Real? I ended last year writing about the Birds
Aren't Real movement, a fake conspiracy theory looking to mock conspiracy theories.
And I got back to a nice note from the Connecticut indie band Fast River, who say
they found out about it from that column, and have made a song about it (though I
was just commenting on a Times piece by Taylor Lorenz, who did actual reporting).
And now the chorus of Fast River's winsome Birds Aren't Real is stuck in my head. I
know I am a soft touch, but-aside from endorsing very important questions about
birds that the song addresses-I'm posting it here to promote my own important
message: If you make a song based on something I wrote, I will
probably post about it. Follow Artnet News on Facebook: Want to stay ahead of the
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