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New video revives debate over Bored Ape Yacht Club’s alleged ‘racist’ imagery

A video released by investigative YouTuber Philip Rusnack, known as ‘Philion,’ has revived the debate over whether Yuga Labs’ flagship Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) non-fungible token (NFT) collection employs racist imagery and white supremacist esotericism. In the hour-long video released June 20 on YouTube, Rusnack laid out his case, claiming that BAYC is “one massive alt-right inside joke” using language, symbols, and memes from the anonymous image board website 4chan. He alleged the NFT images featured racist caricatures of Black and Asian peoples and drew comparisons between the symbology and language used by Yuga Labs and the BAYC with that used by the Nazis. For instance, an example widely used by supporters of the claims draws a comparison between the BAYC logo and the Nazi Totenkopf...