Actor and producer Seth Green’s upcoming TV show starring his Bored Ape NFT has been thrown into disarray after after he was scammed and robbed of several NFTs.
Green was set to release a new series called White Horse Tavern, teasing the trailer at NFT conference VeeCon with crypto entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuck present.
The comedy was set to feature much of the Austin Powers actor’s NFT collection with the leading protagonist, his Bored Ape, Fred Simian.
The trailer showcased a mix of real-life actors and animated NFT characters and generally looked like a new and innovative idea.
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With Bored Ape becoming one of the first NFT projects to grant commercial rights to the digital art, it allowed Green to be inventive in how he used his Ape.
There was only one hiccup.
After his NFTs were stolen, it's unclear whether Green owns the likeness and usage rights to his non-fungible tokens, including that of Fred Simian.
The comedian claimed earlier this month that a scammer had stolen some of his prized digital assets through a phishing scheme, grabbing a Bored Ape, two Mutant Apes, and a Doodle.
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Green told Vaynerchuck at VeeCon: “I bought that ape in July 2021, and have spent the last several months developing and exploiting the IP to make it into the star of this show.
“Then days before — his name is Fred by the way — days before he’s set to make his world debut, he’s literally kidnapped.”
Upon finding out he had been scammed out of his NFTs, Green tracked down one of the buyers who bought the stolen art after it was listed.
The buyer by the name of ‘DarkWing84’ purchased the Bored Ape NFT for more than $200,000 and then transferred it to a collection called ‘GBE_Vault’.
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Green has since been pleading to the user to come to some sort of agreement for Fred Simian.
The actor tweeted at ‘DarkWing84’ saying: “Looks like you bought my stolen ape - hit me up so we can fix it.”
The NFT buyer may actually have no idea that the ape he bought was stolen, however, each piece of digital art keeps a record of ownership through its blockchain, making it difficult for the owner to plead innocence.
It's hard to say whether the show will be able to go ahead while a question mark remains on ownership.
Seth Green is adamant White Horse Tavern can get the green light because he's been the victim of a scam.
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Responding to claims the show had been put on hold, Green tweeted: "Not true since the art was stolen.
"A buyer who purchased stolen art with real money and refuses to return it is not legally entitled to exploitation usage of the underlying IP.
"It’ll go to court, but I’d prefer to meet @DarkWing84 before that. Seems we’d have lots in common."
Green added that he's since 'connected' with @DarkWing84 so a resolution could be on the way.
Fred Simian may get his silver screen spotlight after all.
Topics: TV and Film, Cryptocurrency
Jayden Collins