NFTs? Bad. Tucker Carlson? Even worse. But an NFT of Tucker Carlson? Good!
Stay with me here.
Artist Jenny Holzer raised $14,000 for abortion rights using an image from a May 2021 episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight featuring a pouty-faced Carlson above a chyron read, “Making an informed choice regarding your own body shouldn’t be controversial.”
It was meant to be an anti-vaccine pronouncement, but as Jenny Holzer wrote on Instagram, “the words could be a pro-choice statement.” In real life, Carlson responded to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade by fuming about companies like Netflix and Disney covering the travel costs for employees in affected states seeking abortions.
Holzer put the NFT (which was inspired by a tweet from Washington D.C.-based communications strategist Gillian Branstetter) up for auction for $600. Six hours later, it was up to “nearly $13,000, before the winning bid was made Saturday around noon,” according to the Washington Post. “The sale on the Foundation NFT site listed an anonymous cryptocurrency address as the buyer.” As for where the money is going to:
The NFT would go on to sell Saturday for [about] $14,500 — with the creator, Jenny Holzer, saying she will donate the money she makes from the sale to groups including Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and the advocacy group PAI.
Even if your viral tweet about Tucker Carlson looking like a little boy pretending to be A Very Serious Adult doesn’t catch the eye of a visual artist, you’re still welcome to donate to Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and PAI.
(Via the Washington Post)