Two experts in the field of space law have debunked Lil Uzi Vert‘s supposed purchase of planet WASP-127b, calling the transaction “bogus.”
Frans Von der Dunk, a professor of Space Law at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Ram Jakhu, the director of McGill’s Institute of Air and Space Law, told Business Insider that Uzi’s purchase is a sham. “If someone sold him a planet or he thinks he own this planet in the normal sense of the word, it’s simply not true,” Von der Dunk said. “It’s fraud.”
Jakhu added that the 1967 Outer Space Treaty specifically prohibits all nations and its citizens from claiming sovereignty over “outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies.” If an individual wants to “own” land from space, the closest item they can own is a mineral. “You can give them your money, but it doesn’t mean anything,” Jakhu explained. “There will always be companies trying to sell you things. If they can make money off you, why wouldn’t they? But, that doesn’t mean it’s legally recognized.”
Both Jakhu and Von der Dunk shared that companies that “sell” the naming rights to stars or plots of land on the Moon have no legal value. Business Insider also noted that if planets were ever legally sold to individuals, it would cost over a trillion dollars, pointing out an astrophysicist’s 2020 calculation of the Earth’s value at $5 quadrillion USD.
News of Uzi’s purchase was revealed by Grimes on Twitter, shortly adding that the documentation was “almost complete” and that the rapper would be the “[f]irst human to legally own a planet.”
Elsewhere in music, Isaiah Rashad shared the full tracklist for The House Is Burning.
