Someone Stole Seth Green's Ape NFT and Now He Has to Stop Making the TV Show He Was Developing Around It
BuzzFeed News — Actor and producer Seth Green was robbed of several NFTs this month after succumbing to a phishing scam that inadvertently threw a monkey wrench into the plan for his new animated series. The forthcoming show was developed from characters in Green’s expansive NFT collection, but in light of the recent hack, the project’s blatant crypto optimism has become a tragically ironic reminder of the industry’s shadier side.
On Saturday, Green teased a trailer for White Horse Tavern at the NFT conference VeeCon. A twee comedy, the show seems to be based on the question, “What if your friendly neighborhood bartender was Bored Ape Yacht Club #8398?” In an interview with entrepreneur and crypto hype man Gary Vaynerchuk, Green said he wanted to imagine a universe where “it doesn't matter what you look like, what only matters is your attitude.”
Unfortunately for Green, what also matters is copyright law. And when the actor’s NFT collection was pilfered by a scammer in early May, he lost the commercial rights to his show’s cartoon protagonist, a scruffy Bored Ape named Fred Simian, whose likeness and usage rights now belong to someone else.
“I bought that ape in July 2021, and have spent the last several months developing and exploiting the IP to make it into the star of this show,” Green told Vaynerchuk. “Then days before — his name is Fred by the way — days before he’s set to make his world debut, he’s literally kidnapped.”
My understanding of NFTs is limited to the following: I am happy when people lose money on them. If you spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy a digital picture of a monkey wearing a funny hat so you can make a TV show about it and that monkey picture gets stolen, I say good. I'd go so far as to say NFTs have taught me I actually have a utilitarian view of larceny. I root for NFT thieves.
And judging from what we know of this show which will now not exist, whoever stole this NFT did the world a great service.
I'm glad Seth's monkey was "kidnapped." Also, we're being pretty liberal saying the NFT was stolen when it was admittedly done through a phishing scam. That's on you, brother. Green sounds like the kind of guy who'd buy $900 worth of Amazon gift cards if he got a text saying to do it, too.
If it's any consolation, Green can right-click the picture of his monkey and own exactly the same thing he owned before. He'll just still be out a shitload of money.