In February, video game retailer/persistent meme GameStop announced plans to open an NFT marketplace. Currently in beta, the GameStop NFT Marketplace (opens in a new tab) allows customers to buy and sell NFTs characterized by an approved selection of creators. One of those creators named Jules minted and began selling an NFT called Falling Man, in which a figure resembling an iconic Associated Press photograph of a man who fell from the World Trade Center on 9/11 called The Falling Man (opens in a new tab) is dressed as an astronaut and described with a caption: “This one probably fell from the MIR station.”
For those unfamiliar with the photo: Left (NFT): “Falling Man” Right (photo): “The Falling Man” pic.twitter.com/KgXWqmwzQe23 July 2022
GameStop’s NFT marketplace currently uses astronauts as mascots, in places where the form new creators must fill out (opens in a new tab) and some downloadable wallpapers (opens in a new tab). It doesn’t really explain why Jules saw fit to take such a famous and already controversial image, turn it into a tasteless joke, and then try to profit from it. In any case, after NFT started to be criticized in places like Web3, things are going just fine (opens in a new tab) and Resetera (opens in a new tab) forum, GameStop removed the image. Following the link now goes to a blank page (opens in a new tab)although the original is still preserved on the Wayback Machine (opens in a new tab).
Several people had already bought NFT, of which 25 issues were minted. The GameStopNFT Twitter account (opens in a new tab) explained the decision to one such customer, saying that “Individual collections violated our terms of use, resulting in the NFTs being suspended from our marketplace. You will still be able to transfer these NFTs to Tier 1 and between wallets, but they cannot be sold on our marketplace.”
Someone who complained about the photo via an instant message was apparently told off (opens in a new tab) that “This NFT will be removed from our marketplace in its entirety. This user has already had the minting ability removed from their account and we have already been in direct contact with the creator about these actions.”
On the meme share subreddit GME_Meltdown (opens in a new tab), a user has suggested that the figure in NFT is actually a rendering of an existing 3D model of a Russian flight suit made by another artist and used without credit or permission. Here it is on Blender Market.
