Chris Crocker Sells 'Leave Britney Alone' NFT For $46,000

Chris Crocker, one of YouTube's first viral stars thanks to their iconic Leave Britney Alone video, has joined the parade of classic memers getting in on the NFT game, selling the original footage for 18.69 ether, the equivalent of roughly $46,000, to an anonymous buyer.

Content creator Chris Crocker sold their famous "Leave Britney Alone" viral video as a non-fungible token for about $44,000. https://t.co/6G7lyJuhmL

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) April 14, 2021

"I made this video as a gender-bending teenage high school dropout in my grandparent's bedroom," wrote Crocker. "I had no idea the impact its message would have, years later, maybe society is finally starting to get it :-)."

Indeed, while Crocker's video was widely mocked and parodied upon its release in 2007, the current discourse surrounding Britney Spears and the Free Britney movement has made Crocker's video oddly prescient.

Speaking to Business Insider, Crocker discussed how their decision to sell "Leave Britney Alone" was motivated in part by their desire to finally get some recompense for the video that changed their life, often in negative ways.

"I felt like I took a lot of hits -- you know, literal hits," they said, detailing times they were "physically assaulted at gay clubs," received death threats, and felt as if the gay community was "embarrassed that I was a representation for them."

"I didn't really get anything from [the video] other than to be put in a box for the next 14 years."

Crocker joins a long list of early meme creators finally cashing in on their viral fame through NFTs. Scumbag Steve, Overly Attached Girlfriend, Bad Luck Brian and many others have entered the NFT market, walking away with tens, and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Crocker says their first priority with the funds is to help out their grandmother, then to use the rest to fully present as a woman. Crocker identifies as transgender but has said they feel scared to fully live as a woman due to their life in the rural South. "I've always thought if I am going to (live as a woman) and still be here and live around my family, I have to go, like, all the way," they said.