The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection is the latest target of the hacktivist group Anonymous. On Sunday, August 14, the group posted a video on Twitter promising to investigate the different allegations that have been leveled against BAYC.
More specifically, Anonymous stated that it would be looking into accusations of racism, occultism, Nazism, pedophilia and simianism, which have been raised against the leading NFT collectible. However, NFT Twitter is not convinced that the video is real, but here is a lowdown of everything about the Anonymous group’s message for BAYC holders.
In the video, Anonymous mentioned that BAYC NFT traits had shown connections to racism, occultism, simianism and pedophilia. “As we navigate through the curated research that openly ties the artwork to these accusations, we can’t help but wonder why none of these accusations have actually been put to rest.” The group also mentioned that they are aware of Yuga Labs’ responses to the accusations, but they have never seen anything “labeled as refuted.” “Anonymous wants to take the time to open a discussion about the BAYC collection…We don’t believe in half measures and want to be thorough with our investigation,” the group said in the video.
It further stated that its planned investigation into the “heinous accusations” may take many months. “BAYC collectors and enthusiasts, we feel empathy for what you may be going through right now. Even just allegations can be truly unsettling, but the thought of even one of these allegations being true must be intolerable to think of.”
BAYC has been under intense fire since January this year when Ryder Ripps said that the founders of Yuga Labs are strongly connected to alt-right 4chan meme culture. In his claims, he said that the BAYC collection has elements of racism and highlighted similarities between the BAYC logo and the Nazi Totenkopf emblem. Ryder Ripps even went further to create a website called gordongoner.com to highlight his issues with BAYC in detail.
To respond to the accusations, Yuga Labs released multiple statements and filed a lawsuit against him for false advertising, unjust enrichment, trademark infringement and misleading consumers.
Following the release of the Anonymous group’s message, many NFT enthusiasts and holders have questioned its authenticity. The known official Anonymous Twitter account has 7.9 million followers, while the Twitter account that posted the BAYC video has only 14,100 followers.
Early this year, the real Anonymous Twitter page called out a DeFi token that the fake account shilled a few months back. They also announced that they have no account on Facebook, TikTok or YouTube. Earlier this month, an Anonymous verified Facebook page in a now-deleted post praised Ryder Ripps and Pauly Cohen.
With all the doubts surrounding the video, some community members are convinced Ripps made the video. Twitter user Jay-Albert.eth tweeted: “From what I’ve seen, they don’t record camera angles from different views of the speaker. He also sounds similar to Ryder and his team to me. I think it’s fake.”
