'Just a chill guy' artist threatens legal action against for-profit activities using their art
Quick Take
- The creator of the artwork behind “Just a chill guy” shared that they will be taking legal action against for-profit activities using the image.
- “Just a chill guy” is the latest memecoin sensation, with the President of El Salvador and various brands sharing the image on social media.
The creator of the artwork behind "Just a chill guy," the latest memecoin sensation, has shared that they will be taking legal action against for-profit activities using the image.
"Just putting it out there, chill guy has been copyrighted," X user @PhillipBankss wrote. "Like, legally," they added, sharing that they will "be issuing takedowns on for-profit related things over the next few days."
The message caused the price of the memecoin to decline, but it nevertheless remains up roughly 35% over the past 24 hours.
"Just a chill guy" surged into the mainstream consciousness after a memecoin using the artwork skyrocketed from virtually nothing to a market cap of $322.99 million, as of the time of this writing. Its market cap reached a high of around $580 million at one stage.
The meme, which gained traction on TikTok, has proliferated rapidly. Elon Musk reshared an X post showcasing Grok's explaining the "Just a chill guy" meme, and President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele tweeted the artwork, without any comment, earlier this morning.
The creator did note that he has little issue with brands using his artwork as a trend. Brands such as UFC have used the artwork on X. The X account for famous video game Halo also used the artwork, to which philb responded by asking for an Xbox.
From the start, philb expressed negativity over their artwork being used in the crypto space. "I don't endorse or consent to my art being used to any crypto-related things," they wrote on Nov. 17, adding: "Please leave me alone." They returned to X today because they "have things to say."
The Block reached out to @PhillipBankss for comment.
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