GameStop Approved An NFT Based On A 9/11 Photo, Causing An Uproar
Non-fungible tokens have been taking over the Web3 sphere recently, giving artists and financial enthusiasts a common meeting place. But what happens when digital art crosses a line? GameStop’s NFT marketplace has recently come under fire for doing so after a creator on the platform released an image that looked suspiciously like a famous 9/11 photograph.
The image it was based on is called The Falling Man and was photographed by Associated Press photographer Richard Dres. It was devastatingly captured as a man—one of 100 who jumped from the building as it collapsed—fell to his death from the top of the towers on September 11, 2001
The creator of the token, known as Jules, replaced the figure with an astronaut but kept all other elements of the photo, including the pose and the background of the North Tower.
Below, the artist captioned the image as, “this one probably fell from the MIR station,” in reference to the decommissioned Russian space station. Twitter account web3 is going great spotted the eerie similarity and called the company out on Twitter for allowing such an image to be sold, fueling disdain among fans.
For those not familiar with the photo:
— web3 is going just great (@web3isgreat) July 23, 2022
Left (NFT): "Falling Man"
Right (photo): "The Falling Man" pic.twitter.com/KgXWqmwzQe
It should be noted that GameStop’s NFT platform is not an open market and it vets all of its artists before they are approved to sell their work. The company may not be directly involved in the release of the digital art but it certainly had a hand in giving the artist the right to publish the work.
At the time, the NFT was the cheapest one listed on Jules’ account, going for 0.65 Ethereum (US$1,041), following Coinbase. GameStop eventually removed the listing after being called out. A statement from the game store to The Game also clarified that it had been in contact with the creator and had removed their minting rights.
[via GameRant and The Game, Photo 46060568 © Ken Wolter | Dreamstime.com]
