The makers of the Bored Ape Nazi Club documentary film, Ryder Ripps and Philion, responded to the lawsuit Yuga Labs filed in relation to the accusations made by the film of the BAYC collection’s Nazi roots.
Yuga Labs accused Ripps, whom it called "a self-proclaimed 'conceptual artist,'" of selling “copycat NFTs,” referring to the RR/BAYC collection, which replicates Bored Apes. According to Ripps, RR/BAYC was minted to raise awareness about the points he and Philion made in the film.
Separately, Ripps marketed the copies as an example of appropriation art. Yuga, however, sees the mint as a bid by Ripps and his associates to “unjustly enrich themselves.”
“Ban SNL,” “ban Art,” “ban Satire,” Ryder Ripps tweeted, and Philion said he would be “addressing every point” against the claims made in the film. He also sought to distance himself from the RR/BAYC collection, claiming that the “video was in no way shape or form financially motivated or an endorsement on Ryder’s project’s behalf.”
The collection was listed on OpenSea long enough to garner a trading volume of over $3 million, but it ended up getting removed based on a claim of intellectual property infringement. According to Yuga Labs, it was “deliberately misleading and confusing to customers and used Yuga Labs’ BAYC marks in an attempt to trick community members into buying their NFTs instead of the official BAYC NFTs.”
