A Yuga Labs cofounder responded to claims that the Bored Ape Yacht Club had disguised Nazi images in a message that was posted online.
Wylie Aronow, a.k.a. Gordon Goner, a.k.a. the co-founder of Yuga Labs, the company that created the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) brand, took to Twitter on June 24 to respond to the “misinformation campaign” that claimed he and his colleagues were “super-secret Nazis.”
Goner claimed that despite paying attention to what he called “incredibly unbalanced” accusations in the past, he did not respond as thoroughly as he did today in response to a YouTuber’s hour-long video that purported to be the result of a six-month investigation into what the YouTuber believes to be a connection between the BAYC corporate image and nazi symbolism.
“We haven’t addressed these charges in further depth because, to be honest, they are completely implausible. Having said that, it was really weird to hear a podcaster we respect discuss a conspiracy theory when we got up this morning.
The video has received close to 900,000 views so far and has sparked a lot of discussion among viewers.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club Contains Cubans, Jews, Turks, and Pakistanis
Goner started his post by stating that a group of Jewish, Turkish, Pakistani, and Cuban buddies are the BAYC founders. Even the Mexican-American wife of Goner is one. He contends that it would be absurd to assume that the Bored Ape Yacht Club or any of its members have any connection to the Nazi movement as a result.
All of these allegations, according to Goner, are a “fiction” spread by anti-BAYC activist Ryder Ripps, who copied his NFT collection under a different identity and made approximately $3.5 million in sales on OpenSea before having his account terminated for infringement of intellectual property.
Ryder Ripps describes himself as an artist, satirist, and phunk and now has 29K followers on Twitter. His account has a thread that contains his charges against Goner.
A Group Of Good-Hearted Gamers Started Yuga Labs.
Goner pointed out that Yuga Labs was called after a villain from the video game Zelda who can turn himself and his pals into 2D art, which made sense given the NFT collection they planned to develop. He also highlighted that he and his buddies were a group of geeks who enjoyed MMORPG games like Warcraft.
He assured that everything about BAYC was developed in a spirit “of irreverence and absurdity” and that they never intended for people to take the BAYC emblem so seriously, which is why the aesthetic itself is “ramshackle and dive-y.” It contrasts sharply with Ripps’ opinions.
- What served as the BAYC logo’s source of inspiration?
We never intended to take ourselves too seriously, so the club has a run-down, seedy appearance. The BAYC was designed to exude an air of irreverence and silliness in every way.
— Yuga Labs on January 3, 2022 (@yugalabs).
Even the email Goner wrote to the logo designer, in which he claimed that the club’s design was influenced by his love of punk, skateboarding, navy flags, etc., was uploaded online by Goner. Nazi-related information was never mentioned.
Eminem and Snoop Dog just dropped a video in which they transform into two of their very own tired apes as they start to sing. Whether or not BAYC is controversial, it continues to be the collection of choice for celebrities and socialites.
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