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Crazy Frog forced to defend himself against NFT criticism
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 15 December 2021
He’s been officially back for less than a week and already Crazy Frog has become the most controversial thing on the internet. And somehow not because his new single is a cover of ‘Tricky’ by Run-DMC. The bigger issue – it seems – is that alongside that new single there is a collection of NFTs, which will go up for sale just before Christmas.
Since the single was released last week, people have been claiming on Twitter that the frog has not been revived to give the fans (apparently these exist) what they have wanted for years (by which they mean new music, I think). Instead, they reckon, the whole venture is actually just a get rich quick scheme, cashing in on the NFT fad.
Such was the response, in fact, that the Frog issued a formal statement shortly after the single was released, largely addressing the various rumours that were circulating online.
“Hey all, we know there’s a lot of questions and concerns about the NFT drop on MetaBeats”, the statement said. “Let’s get a few things out of the way. These ARE official NFTs, they WILL happen, and we understand if anyone’s not for them. As seen before, there have been quite a few fake, scam NFTs trying to use the Crazy Frog name in the past. Simply put, the only way we can truly stop them for good is to make our own”.
“This drop is only really meant for the Crypto/NFT communities as well”, it went on. “Behind the scenes, we’re going to be working on something truly special for EVERYONE in the future…. [it will be] dedicated to the biggest fans, and will be on the Metaverse. It’ll be CRAZY!”.
Anyone with further questions or concerns was then invited to email the Crazy Frog team, an offer which went about as well as could be expected.
Initially, the Frog was blasé about the ongoing controversy, tweeting on Saturday: “2005: I was the world’s most hated frog. 2021: I am the world’s most hated frog. Nothing’s changed, huh?” He then added for good measure: “WON’T cancel the NFTs”.
Somehow, that did not calm things down. So earlier this week, the Twitter account broke character for the first time, with the team working on the current Crazy Frog project issuing a further statement and also confirming there has been some behind the scenes disagreement about the NFT drop.
“We would like to start this message by acknowledging that while we appreciate all the valid criticism toward NFTs, sending us death threats and other nasty things to our email isn’t cool or productive”, began the Twitter thread. “Also, we’ve noticed confusion about our positions, some even assuming we are the ‘Crazy Frog creators’. We, the social media guys, don’t have any control over NFTs or other decisions. We’re just fans of Crazy Frog like you all”.
“Nobody is forcing us to like each other’s ideas and the producer isn’t pressuring the creators”, they went on, further addressing rumours spreading on social media. “The creator is the producer. He’s in charge and we just follow. Please stop spreading this myth, as it’s blatantly untrue”.
“Everyone has a say in the brand matters, however the higher-ups have still decided to go forward with the [NFT] project”, they added, before addressing online comments from some members of the Crazy Frog team that expressed disapproval of the NFTs. The Twitter thread continued: “Not all of us agree and we may sometimes express disapproval promoting it. We are allowed to do so and we have been only speaking from our own personal judgment”.
Referencing the biggest criticism of those non-fungible tokens, they also claimed that the Crazy Frog NFTs are being made available using “delegated proof of stake validation, which has been proven to be more environmentally friendly than other means”.
Finally, countering the claims that the entire Crazy Frog comeback is just a short scheme to promote some NFTs, they concluded with perhaps the most horrifying revelation: “Remember everyone, this is only the beginning. We have so much more planned out, that was YEARS in the making and for YEARS to come. We’re incredibly excited to share it with you all in the future”.
I’m not sure what you did to bring this punishment upon us, but it must have been pretty bad.
