The Falling Man 9/11 NFT removed from GameStop’s marketplace
It is one of the most gruesome depictions of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and some thought it could make money off of it. Users of GameStop’s new NFT marketplace were surprised over the weekend when they saw someone selling a non-fungible token that elicited The Falling Mana photo of a man jumping from the North Tower of the World Trade Center when they were attacked on September 11, 2001.
The photo caught a wave of attention on Reddit and the crypto-critic blog Web3isGoingJustGreat first addressed the hubbub. According to forum posts, an artist known only as Jules put the NFT titled “Falling Man” up for sale. It clearly evokes AP photographer Richard Drew’s photo The Falling Manbut replaces the unknown man with an astronaut, akin to the marketplace mascot. The NFT was reportedly minted 25 times and was initially sold for 0.65 ETH, or $990, although the price later dropped to 0.029 ETH, or $46.
The NFT had been up for nearly two weeks, after being minted on July 12, according to a preserved version of the website thanks to Wayback Machine. GameStop takes a 2.25% cut from each NFT sale.
However, GameStop did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment according to screenshot messages posted online, GameStop said Saturday that the NFT was removed “complete” and that Jules had his imprinting ability removed. At least eight people bought NFT before it was taken down. The company signed its Twitter that those who bought NFT can still transfer it between wallets, but they will not be able to sell it.
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GameStop entered the NFT area back in May, and completed its beta marketplace online this month. Unlike the beleaguered NFT trading platform Open seaGameStop requires users to be “approved” before they can make an NFT on the platform, according to the company support page, but there is no data on whether the company is reviewing any of the NFTs for content policy violations. OpenSea had to learn that fact the hard way, and earlier this year they started hiring real people with real eyeballs to crack down on counterfeits that pervade the platform.
But of course, many have pointed out that OpenSea allows many of these gross and copyright-infringing NFTs. It is an entry for an NFT of the actual The Falling Man photograph “owned” by at least one user on the platform. Here is another which draws inspiration from the image. And this isn’t the first time people have tried to cash in on mass terrorist incidents. In January, a French surgeon was accused of trying selling x-rays of a terrorist attack victim in 2015 as an NFT.
In an interview from 2021 with EsquireRichard Drew, the original The Falling Man photographer, said he had been filming a maternity fashion show in Bryant Park when the first plane hit the North Tower. He was horrified by what he saw when he photographed the tower’s explosion, along with the people falling from the towers. The continued reaction to the image has caused concern and discomfort, particularly for the families of the victims of the 2001 terrorist attack.
Still, a picture of “Falling Man” was NFT as well appear in Google search when looking for GameStop’s NFT store, according to Web3 blog writer Molly White.
Meanwhile, GameStop had seen rapid growth in the NFT marketplace in the first few days of its opening, even surpasses Coinbase in sales volume. However, the speed is starting to die off. Ars Technica reported last week based on sales figures that trade appears to be falling well below what was projected based on launch day sales.
