Seth Green Had His Bored Ape NFT Stolen And Is Now Unable To Make His Bored Ape Animated TV Show

In what is perhaps the wildest repercussion of getting "all my apes gone" yet, actor and TV producer Seth Green can no longer make a television series starring his Bored Ape NFT because his Ape was stolen and now legally belongs to someone else, leading him to publicly beg the new owner to give it back to no avail.

Last week, Green announced (in typical crypto speak) that four of his valuable crypto arts had been stolen via a phishing scam. They seem to have ended up in the hands of a Twitter user by the name of @DarkWing84, and Green asked the user to "hit him up" so "we can fix it."

Well frens it happened to me. Got phished and had 4NFT stolen. BoredApeYC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/opensea?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">opensea doodles</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/yugalabs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">yugalabs please don’t buy or trade these while I work to resolve:@DarkWing84 looks like you bought my stolen ape- hit me up so we can fix it pic.twitter.com/VL1OVnd44m

— Seth Green (@SethGreen) May 17, 2022

This by itself was apparently funny enough for the legion of NFT-haters who have gotten their yuks in mocking and memeing the market for its remarkable density of high-profile scams.

However, adding insult to injury is the fact that Green is already deep in the production of an animated TV series starring one of his Bored Apes (which, to paraphrase some commenters, looks pretty bleak). Now that the Ape is in the hands of someone else, Green can't continue making the series because he no longer owns the IP to the central character.

Seth Green’s Bored Ape NFT, which was set to star in its own animated show, was stolen through a phishing scam.

Green no longer owns the commercial rights to the NFT and thus the show cannot move forward.

🔗: https://t.co/Bdrw8qKhzi pic.twitter.com/MBO1XvLIML

— More Butter 🧈 (@morebuttertv) May 24, 2022

On Saturday, mere days after his Ape ("Fred Simian") was stolen, Green went ahead with an interview at VeeCon with crypto entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk to discuss his upcoming Ape-centric show, White Horse Tavern.

"I bought that ape in July 2021, and have spent the last several months developing and exploiting the IP to make it into the star of this show," Green said. "Then days before – his name is Fred by the way – days before he’s set to make his world debut, he’s literally kidnapped."

Green has since spent days trying to get a hold of DarkWing84, who purchased the ape from the phisher. The user has iced out both Green and Buzzfeed. One Green supporter attempted to reach out to DarkWing84 by sending him a message while using the handle "contactsethgreenontwitter.eth."

While ostensibly sad for Seth Green, the whole fiasco has been a hoot for some Twitter users who very much do not want to see a Bored Ape Yacht Club television sitcom helmed by Green.

You could not make up a funnier story if you tried. https://t.co/7w8EnIzsqq

— Patrick Klepek (@patrickklepek) May 24, 2022

Imagine coming home after being laid off and having to tell your wife "The showrunner's monkey got stolen so we all got let go" https://t.co/JyBTMKLyDl

— ✨jane✨ (@gigajane) May 24, 2022

probably the funniest news we will get this year https://t.co/4TGEjPJNZ9

— jung yo biden (@bambooney) May 24, 2022

Ok, I have a conspiracy theory about this. This show was going to fail because it’s an objectively terrible idea and this is a way to bail on it without revealing that all these projects are stupid. The theft is a fake. Thanks for coming to my cork board with red string on it. https://t.co/Xll37xQGOt

— Art from Friends at the Table (@atebbel) May 24, 2022

As of right now, it seems Green's only recourse is to continue begging DarkWing84 for his ape back, as Yuga Labs has their legal outline set up so the owner of an Ape owns all rights to it, regardless of how it was obtained.

This is very funny on almost every level. Yuga Labs' ownership rules are very clear that whoever has the ape has full copyright. And they've sacrificed any rights to fight for you. Just amazing. https://t.co/U5HxOBY1Ot pic.twitter.com/kGE5cQVovr

— Ed Zitron (@edzitron) May 24, 2022

If unsuccessful, it seems like the Ape show will ultimately have to cease production and put the team behind its creation out of work, which some Twitter users have also found extremely funny.

Seth Green’s stupid NFT show had begun production already

The cast and crew of a television program are being laid off because the rights to an imaginary monkey got stolen online

This is the funniest thing that has ever happened

— Slimgirl Fat (@gynoidprincess) May 24, 2022

For his part, Seth is looking to meet DarkWing84 in person rather than in court, where Green pledges he can "prove the promise of ape community."

Looking forward to precedent setting debates on IP ownership & exploitation, having spent 18 years studying copyright & the industry laws. I’d ather meet @DarkWing84 to make a deal, vs in court. We can prove the promise of ape community https://t.co/U1GpYK2X7d

— Seth Green (@SethGreen) May 24, 2022