Long Beach (CoinChapter): Ahead of Sunday’s Oscars ceremony, artist Andre Oshea revealed a one-of-a-kind digital tribute to the late actor Chadwick Boseman. He announced the redeemable NFT as a part of an Oscars swag bag given to all Academy Award nominees.
However…
…once Boseman failed to take home the Oscar for best actor posthumously, the Academy and tribute drew a ton of criticism. In a statement obtained by USA Today, Oshea clarified some reported misinformation.
“I was one of several artists asked by Nomine(ETH) to produce an NFT artwork to celebrate the Oscar nominees with a 50/50 split between a charity and the artists,” he said. “My specific task was to produce an artwork in the memory of late Chadwick Boseman, which was NOT included in the gift bags given to the winners but was set to be auctioned off as a single 1/1 NFT.”
Oshea would continue on about his inspiration, and noted that he intends to redesign the piece.
“I wanted to create a digital monument that embodied Chadwick’s influence as a hero to all the Black kids everywhere while raising awareness about colon cancer and its impact on Black communities. I now recognize that Chadwick’s face is a triggering reminder of his death rather than his life,” he added. “And I will be redesigning the artwork to be auctioned off later this week.”
The artist also said he still will be donating 50% of funds from the auction to the Colon Cancer Foundation. It is the form of cancer Boseman was battling before his ultimate demise in 2020.
NFTs have made a major impact in the world of art as a whole. CoinGecko recently launched Spotlight. Additionally, Beeple has become one of the richest living artists due to non-fungible tokens.
Academy Faces Criticism Following Boseman Snub
Early polls favored Boseman to win the best actor award for his work in Netflix’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” He had already won a Golden Globe, Critic’s Choice, and SAG award for the role.
The Best Actor award would instead go to Anthony Hopkins for his work in “The Father.” The combination of Boseman not winning, the announcement coming at the end of the show, and the NFT itself led to a ton of outrage across social media. Many accused the Academy of attempting to capitalize on Boseman’s tragic death.
The NFT was initially set to be auctioned off by Rarible through Tuesday.
