Maybe you noticed it on your morning commute social networks.

Or maybe it didn’t, because some of it is subtle, while some of it is applied like a sledgehammer to your news feed.

But there, between the selfies, the hashtags, and the exhortations to watch their movies and buy their latest line of protein shakes/shapers/coffee makers, celebrities have ratcheted up their rhetoric to persuade us “mere mortals” (more on this later). forward) to participate. the NFT and the cryptocurrency bandwagon.

Captain Marvel disappoints the internet

Celebrities have been sharing their NFTs for a while now. But he took a tweet from captain marvel star Brie Larson to really rile up the Twitterverse.

Twitter is the platform where most of the NFT talk takes place, because it supports the use of NFT in profile pictures for subscribers to its Twitter Blue service.

Long considered one of Hollywood’s most realistic stars and an outspoken advocate for issues affecting women, the actress’s tweet, “#NewProfilePic – got a @FlowerGirlsNFT from @VarvaraAlay,” sparked a firestorm of criticism online. her comments, from accusations she was promoting a “Ponzi scheme” to concerns about the environmental impact of NFTs.

Larson’s post followed a recent episode of the show tonight in which host Jimmy Fallon and guest paris hilton showed off his recent purchases of Bored Ape NFTs created by the secretive collective known as the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

The 77-second segment, a blatant incongruity that followed a conversation about Hilton’s recent weddingwas described as “embarrassing”, “embarrassing” and “unbearable”, as Fallon stated: “We’re part of the same community. We’re both apes.

Which celebrities are promoting NFT?

Along with Fallon and Hilton, people like Gwyneth Paltrow, Justin Bieber and YouTuber-turned-boxer Logan Paul have gone public with their Bored Ape NFTs.

In January, Paltrow changed his Twitter profile picture to his NFT, writing, “Joined BoredApeYC and ready for the reveal? Thank you @moonpay concierge.”

Two stars have emerged as the strongest voices in cryptocurrencies (most NFTs are part of the Ethereum blockchain, and Ethereum is a cryptocurrency), and they also happen to be two of the biggest celebrities on the planet.

Actress and producer Reese Witherspoon, who last year sold her Hello Sunshine media company for $900 million, has been positioning herself as something of a cryptocurrency spokesperson. She alternates between the vaguely scary-sounding tactic: “In the (near) future, every person will have a parallel digital identity. Avatars, crypto wallets, and digital goods will be the norm. Are you planning this?” And the feminist rhetoric of: “Crypto is here to stay. I am committed to supporting creators who have pioneered the NFT space and encouraging more women to be part of the conversation.”

The other celebrity is Matt Damon, another Oscar winner, whose announcement of crypto.com – “The fastest growing crypto app in the world” – compared crypto investors to aviation pioneers the Wright brothers.

In his announcement for the company, Damon provoked the ire of the Internet with the line: “These mere mortals, like you and me”, leading to him being parodied in South Park.

Why are celebrities so involved in NFTs?

As with everything in Hollywood, there’s an interconnectedness behind the scenes that isn’t apparent to the average fan.

It would take a deep dive and industry-level knowledge of the intricacies of Tinseltown to tease out the NFT/celebrity thread and trace it back to its origins.

in a substack In a Max Read article, the writer points out the links between the stars who display their NFTs and the powerful agencies that represent them.

“If you pay attention to both the Hollywood exchanges and the crypto press… you can start to make out the contours of an expanding, interconnected, celebrity-based one. web3 financial-cultural complex,” writes Read. “Did you know, for example, that Jimmy Fallon is represented by CAA, who is an investor in the NFT OpenSea market? And that he recently signed a deal to represent NFT collector 0xb1, NFT owner of Bored Ape Yacht Club and World of Women?

It is common knowledge that Witherspoon is married to Jim Toth, who was once one of the most powerful CAA agents.

American journalist Malcolm Harris has named the correlation “NFT Keiretsu”. Keiretsu is a Japanese term that refers to a group of companies with interconnected business relationships and shareholdings.

voices of dissent

Amidst all the NFT talk of celebrities, one actor has emerged as a critical opponent. Previous the oc actor Ben McKenzie, who most recently played James Gordon in Gotham cityit has been a vociferous voice against cryptocurrencies.

“I’m just a former teen idol standing here (alone?) asking people to consider the downside risk and possibility of fraud,” he tweeted. “I hope I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure we’ll find out soon enough. Good luck folks, don’t take financial advice from celebrities, including me.”

Celebrities who have created their own NFTs include Paris Hilton, Lindsay LohanGrimes and Emily Ratajkowski, who sold a photo of herself titled “Buying Myself Back: A Model for Redistribution.”

“There’s a lot of money in our attention-driven economy, if you’re appropriately famous and shameless,” McKenzie wrote in a co-authored column for Board. “With the advent of cryptocurrency, there are whole new realms in one’s life that can be monetized for potentially worthless digital tokens.

“But look under the scum, past $500,000 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs and metaverse parties (supposedly a thing!) intent on getting their little share of the cryptocurrency boom.”

McKenzie has an unlikely ally in the opposition space he currently occupies. rapper kanye-west, who recently took to Instagram to write: “My focus is building real products in the real world. Real food, real clothes, real shelter. Don’t ask me to make a [expletive] NFT”.

But Ye being Ye, there was, of course, a warning: “Ask me later.”

Updated: February 13, 2022, 5:33 am