George Trosley’s racist drawings from his Hustler magazine days went unnoticed initially, but have since led to backlash.
The Jungle Freaks NFT collection has lost roughly 80% of its trading
value overnight after a series of racist cartoons drawn by one of its
creators circulated
on social media. The project is the brainchild of famed Hustler
magazine cartoonist George Trosley, and is curated by his son George III
Trosley.
Many participants from the NFT sale expressed their
dismay after Trosley's offensive illustrations came to light. Even Lord
of the Rings actor Elijah Wood, who has recently taken a public interest
in collecting various NFTs, responded saying:
“I was made aware of some of the artist’s disturbing prior cartoons.
Upon learning this I immediately sold the NFTs as I wholly denounce any
form of racism. I have donated the funds from the sale of the NFT to LDF
and Black Lives Matter.”
The elder Trosley later tweeted what some have amounted to a non-apology, stating:
“The
illustrations that I was contracted to draw, some over 40 years ago,
have been taken out of context, as today's generation may not have an
understanding of what was taking place in journalism and the world
during my time at Hustler magazine.”
His son separately said,
“My father has expressed to me how ashamed he is for the cartoons many
have seen. This project and NFT space as a whole has allowed my father
an opportunity to redeem himself. This community from day one, has been
about inclusivity.”
Twitter user and self-ascribed person of color, or POC, Ricefarmer.eth tweeted:
“I’ve
blocked over 50 accounts today, some of them my own followers. As a POC
I will not stand with anyone defending Jungle Freaks and their
behavior.”
This isn't the first time in recent months
that an NFT project has faced backlash for offensive content. In June, a
project known as Misfit University drew fire from domestic violence
survivors when it released
a series of NFTs featuring avatars with duct tape over their mouths.
The project's creators eventually apologized, and bought the offending
assets back from the affected users.
Even NFT marketplace OpenSea has not been immune to controversy, albeit of a different sort. In September, the company confirmed
that one of its product leads was profiting from insider trading. Nate
Chastain purchased eleven NFTs he knew were going to be featured on the
marketplace’s front page, and unloaded them at a hefty profit once they
were. Opensea conducted an investigation and Chastain subsequently
resigned as a result.
source link : https://cointelegraph.com/news/nft-collection-s-price-takes-a-nosedive-as-racist-cartoons-circulate
