Elijah Wood sells NFT for charity after artist’s work labeled racist

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Actor Elijah Wood sold a series of non-fungible tokens he owned after some claimed the artist behind them created racist depictions of marginalized people in some of his past works.

In a now-deleted tweet, Wood, best known for playing Frodo Baggins in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, wrote that he “loved [his] Golden Zombie “, an NFT of the work of cartoonist George Trosley from his” Jungle Freaks “series.

Trosley’s “Jungle Freaks” series, featured in Hustler Magazine, depicts genetically engineered gorillas at war with zombies in an apocalyptic future. The works date from the 1970s.

But after Wood tweeted about his latest Trosley NFT, of which he owned several, some Twitter users began to highlight the cartoonist’s problematic illustrations depicting black Americans pejoratively.

Input Magazine was the first to report on Wood’s NFT backlash.

On Halloween Day, Wood released a statement saying he sold the artwork after “being made aware of some of the artist’s previous disturbing cartoons.”

“Upon learning of this, I immediately sold the NFTs because I totally denounce any form of racism,” he wrote in the statement.

He said he donated the proceeds from the sale of NFTs to charities, including Black Lives Matter.

The backlash also prompted others to sell their Trosley NFTs and the brand saw its average selling price drop 65%, according to Input.

Trosley and his son George Trosley III addressed the backlash in a statement posted to Twitter and a video posted to YouTube, claiming the images had been taken out of context.

In the video statement, senior Trosley said that when he was exclusively hired by Hustler, he was asked to make cartoons as outrageous as possible, “calling attention to social injustices in America and these cartoons. illustrate this “.

“These cartoons highlight social injustice. They don’t highlight racism in that way at all,” said Trosley III.

Still, in the written statement, Senior Trosley apologized for the work, saying there was “nothing I can say or do to erase these drawings from the past.”

“It is my goal that this situation leads to an opportunity to have an open dialogue that clarifies my past work, encourages thinking about ideas and solutions that will create a cause for action, rather than seeing my art being wrong. interpreted as supporting racism and discrimination, which I do not endorse in any way, ”he said.

Kalhan Rosenblatt is a reporter covering youth and internet culture for NBC News, based in New York City.

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