As a Crypto Winter Descends on the NFT World, Celebrities Ditch Their Bored Ape Twitter Profile Pictures

The relationship between the NFT community and A-list celebrities has been confusing to most. This January, the uninitiated were scratching their heads over Paris Hilton’s performance on Jimmy Fallon, who clogs the Bored Ape Yacht Club. “We’re part of the same community, we’re both monkeys,” she told Fallon in her thoroughly dissatisfied voice.

But times have changed, and we are now in what is called a crypto winter. Just as the art world is trying to reconcile its relationship with the crypto space, so are celebrities, and both Hilton and Fallon have changed their Twitter profile photos from the bored monkeys that once united them. Although, to be fair, they both retain the “.eth” suffix that makes them part of the conversation, and Hilton still coins her own NFTs.

As recently as January, Twitter first rolled out the feature, allowing NFT owners to make their digital artwork of choice their profile picture with their own internal verification system. Many followed suit. However, a few months later, many celebrities have given up their unseemly avatars, including Serena Williams, Reese Witherspoon, Shonda Rhimes, Lil Durk, Travis Barker, and Meek Mill.

Fallon’s switch was unceremonious, with no tweet aimed at his monkey in a sailor hat swapped out for an old-school analog selfie from the comedian. The timing is ironic too, as the NFT NYC convention is currently taking place near Times Square, just around the corner from its stage at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

There is reason to believe that the NFT community is aware of this seismic detachment. According to a viral tweet by NBC News reporter Kevin Collier, the convention may have hired a Snoop Dogg look-alike, “Doop Snogg,” to join the celebrations and boost the convention’s prestige.

“I’m back at the NFT conference in NYC in Times Square and Snoop walked by flanked by security guards. I grabbed his handler and said I was a reporter and would like a few minutes,” Collier wrote. “The guy actually said that was an impersonator, legally you can’t say he is, they hired him to add excitement.”

The question remains whether this is further evidence that the crypto-sphere is becoming more and more isolated from other facets of the culture, or is it just another symptom of the larger mood shift?

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