George Floyd NFTs: Worst NFT collection ever?

George Floyd NFTs, aka Floydies NFTs, is an NFT collection launched on OpenSea in December 2021.

The NFT collection is based on George Floyd, a black man killed by Derek Chauvin, an American police officer, in May 2020 in Minneapolis.

The police officer murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his throat for over nine minutes. He was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison for his crime. The incident led to large-scale racial justice protests in the country, eventually birthing the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

BLM spread like wildfire across the country and beyond its shores - the movement is a testament to our unified stance against racism. The campaign is alive even today - Premier League teams, for example, 'take a knee' before the kick-off of matches in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Unfortunately, on 7 December 2021, a group of quick-money-seeking anonymous creators launched the first collection of Floydies NFTs on OpenSea, one week after the police officer who murdered George Floyd pleaded not guilty.

The NFT collection, according to its anon creators, was meant to serve as a forward-thinking and distinctive way to honour George Floyd's life. It served no such purpose - the NFTs sparked outrage along the lines of being racist and tasteless. OpenSea was forced to remove the collection shortly after.

George Floyd NFT collection history

The NFT collection's OpenSea bio described them as a "unique and progressive way" to celebrate George Floyd. It added, "Owning a Floydie is a great way to express yourself and your beliefs!"

The first George Floyd NFT collection comprised 11 NFTs and was launched on 7 December 2021. Each NFT is a digital cartoon depiction of George Floyd with a unique background and set of clothing. This includes depictions of George Floyd as an astronaut, Joker (the Batman universe character), a BLM protestor, and much more.

The @FloydiesNFT X page (now dysfunctional) announced the collection launch and was greeted with more than 3,000 likes, 4,100 retweets, and plenty of backlash within three weeks. The first NFT collection was not commercially successful, with the highest-selling NFT going for 0.05 ETH.

Mind you, this was the first collection that was launched. Many Floydies NFTs arrived later and the highest-selling NFT went for a whopping 3 ETH (roughly $12,000 at the time).

A Floydies NFT making reference to the Sneed's Feed and Seed meme was added to the original collection on 12 December (below). By 27 December, a bidder had posted a bid of 3 ETH, and the auction was closed on 28 December.

Other NFTs added to the original Floydies collection include George Floyd dressed as a minion, a police officer (how tasteless is that?), Goku from Dragon Ball Z, Big Chungus, and much more. Talking about being distasteful, an autistic version of the man was included as well.

In all, 22 items were launched as part of the collection, and the anon creators of Floydies NFTs raked in nearly $5,000 in profit. Was the profit worth playing with the feelings of people? No.

George Floyd NFT Collection: Among the worst in history

The NFT sphere has seen several bad projects, including Jungle Freaks and Little Baby Apes. Floydies NFTs are, without a shadow of a doubt, the worst collection in history.

The George Floyd NFT set seemed to have been designed to outrage people, with the depicted imagery labelled as "troublesome" by Chris Stokel-Walker of Input Magazine.

The Minions Floydie is a great example - what were the creators thinking? I understand freedom of speech and expression, but this is certainly crossing the line. The NFTs are disgustingly racist, and I am disappointed that they were not taken down sooner by OpenSea.

All the collection does is mock George Floyd's death and the BLM movement. And, of course, it filled the pockets of its creators with a whole $5,000.

The collection serves as a reminder that humanity is greedy and will try to monetise any opportunity. May George Floyd rest in peace.