The NFT spree that emerged in recent years was the ‘art of the future’ for some and the world’s largest money laundering system for others. In both cases, the first name that comes to mind when NFT is mentioned is of course Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). However, according to a conspiracy theory that emerged last month, BAYC is actually not as innocent as it seems.
Renowned US conceptual artist and founder of OkFocus design company Ryder Ripps claimed that these monkey NFTs that we have all seen at least once on the internet are actually part and even the basis of a Neo-Nazi propaganda. If you want, let’s look at the details of this conspiracy theory together.
Warning: The information below is taken from Ryder Ripps’ conspiracy theory. It is not known whether these claims reflect the truth in any way.
Are the founders of the project Neo-Nazi?
The Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT Collection and its umbrella company, Yuga Labs, have 4 founding partners, Whylie Aronow (Gordon Goner), Greg Solano (Gargamel), Zeshan Ali (Sass) and Kerem Atalay (EmperorTomatoKetchup). The names chosen by the founders on social media are quite interesting.
When you think of Gordon Goner’s username, Whylie Aronow’s chosen name, as an anagram, the words that come up are “Drongo Negro”. Drongo means “fool” in Australian street language. Negro, on the other hand, is known as a word that insults black people in many parts of the world, especially in France during the slavery period.
The second co-founder of the company, Greg Solano, uses the username Gargamel. Gargamel, whom we know from the Smurfs cartoon, is thought to represent the Jews. In fact, on forums like 4Chan and Reddit, Jews are often referred to as Gargamel. Before founding BAYC, Solano also wrote a thesis on a Nazi fiction novel, inspired by Hans Reiter, a Nazi SS officer known for his murderous experiments on humans, during his college years.
EmperorTomatoKetchup, the username used by Kerem Atalay, belongs to a movie of the same name released in 1971. In the movie, a boy in a military uniform sexually abuses an adult individual. For this reason, the film has been banned in many parts of the world since its release.
Sass, the username of Zeshan Ali, the last member of the team, refers to two paramilitary units, SA and SS, in Nazi Germany. SA units were known as semi-professional security forces, while SS units were fully professional and highly equipped military forces.
According to Ripps’ statement, the backgrounds of the founders and the usernames they chose indicated that they were neo-Nazis. Again, according to Ripps’ claims, people who knew this team stated that they were once fascists and now crypto-fascists.
Bored Ape Yacht Club’s logo and the origin of the company
The original logo of the Bored Ape Yacht Club consists of a monkey skull in a black circle. This logo is particularly similar to the SS Totenkopf emblem in Nazi Germany. Totenkopf is known as the sub-branch of the SS soldiers from the concentration camps. In addition, it is noteworthy that both logos have 18 teeth on the skulls. The number 18 is one of the numbers considered ‘sacred’ by the Nazis. An alphanumeric code, 18 represents A and H, the initials of Adolf Hitler’s name. Also, the outer parts of both logos are not smooth. All these similarities are striking.
Yuga Labs, the parent company of BAYC, is named after Kali Yuga, according to Ripps’ theory. Kali Yuga is known as the last time before the apocalypse and the peak of material and spiritual corruption according to the Indian understanding of time. Kali Yuga was also associated with the emergence of the Jews in Nazi Germany. According to the Nazis, the only way to get rid of the Kali Yuga was to “exterminate” the Jews.
On the official site of Yuga Labs, they also state that they were inspired by a collection called Hashmasks when establishing the company. Hashmasks are an NFT collection by Swiss company Suum Cuiqe Labs. Suum Cuiqe means ‘Everyone gets what they deserve’ in Turkish, and the term is written in German (Jedem Das Seine) on the gates of Jewish concentration camps in Nazi Germany. Yuga Labs also frequently expresses their admiration for Suum Cuiqe Labs.
The company also made the Bored Ape Yacht Club first available for pre-sale on April 27, 2021. In an interview they gave about the collection, which was fully released on April 30, the founders stated that they accepted the official release date of Bored Ape Yacht Club as April 30. April 30, which is also an important date by the Nazis, is known as the death date of Adolf Hitler.
Meanings under NFTs
Since its debut, Bored Ape Yacht Club has been bummed about the contents of NFTs. The fact that the creature used in NFTs is ape (Ape) brought to mind the insulting of black people by being called ‘monkeys’ in ancient times. In addition, many NFTs contain references to World War II and racism. These NFTs, which are very similar to the racist Pepe memes that appeared on the 4Chan forums, include the monkey wearing a headband that reads ‘Kamikaze’, the Prussian helmet widely used during and before the German Nazi period, the helmets that the Belgians wore during the Congo occupation and are associated with black slavery.
There is a monkey in a prison outfit in NFT 1488, which is also one of the NFTs in the collection. When we look at the prison number on the dress, we see that this number is 019807. According to the theory, when zeros are subtracted from this number, the result is 1987. This year is known as the death year of Rudolf Hess, also known as Hitler’s right-hand man. The NFT’s number, 1488, is known as a symbol of hatred, which is often used among Nazis and Neo-Nazis. Known as 14/88, this symbol represents the Nazis’ 14-word slogan. This slogan, which means “We must secure the existence of humanity and our future for children of white color,” is used together with the number 88. An alphanumeric code, 88, stands for “Hail Hitler”.
Ryder Ripps is known as the sole person behind all these theories, and he argues that this theory is true. On the other hand, some content producers and influencers are talking about this theory on Twitter with the hashtag #BURNBAYC, arguing that Ripps’ theory is true. So do you think this theory is true? Do not forget to indicate your ideas in the comments.
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