Solana deletes ‘cringe’ ad criticized for being ‘tone deaf’ on gender issues

The team behind blockchain network Solana has deleted a controversial advertisement posted on its X account after immense backlash over political messaging around gender identity.

The more than two-and-a-half-minute ad for the Solana Accelerate conference posted on March 17 with the caption “America is back. Time to Accelerate” depicted a man as “America” in a therapy session who said he was having thoughts “about innovation” such as crypto.

The therapist responds he should do “something more productive, like coming up with a new gender” and later says the man should “focus on pronouns.”

As the conversation meanders on, the man snaps and launches into a monologue amid swelling patriotic music, saying he wants to “build onchain and reclaim my place as the beacon of innovation” and wants “to invent technologies, not genders” in an apparent dig at progressive values.

Before its deletion, the ad was viewed over 1.2 million times and racked up over 1,300 comments and 1,400 reposts, a majority of which derided it for its handling of gender identity and for making light of a highly divisive political issue.

“They rolled it back because it hurt their business, not because they thought it was wrong,” Cinneamhain Ventures partner Adam Cochran wrote to X on March 18.

Took them 9 hours to delete it.

Also all the major players in the Solana ecosystem suddenly delete their tweets promoting/supporting the ad and RT’d and liked takes about it being bad.

They approved this, supported it and celebrated it.

They rolled it back because it hurt… pic.twitter.com/kPMERDpTcn

Solana has not stated why it deleted the ad. The Solana Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sean O’Connor, operating chief at Web3 infrastructure firm Blocknative, wrote on X, “This is so fucking tone deaf.”

“At a time when trans people are getting denied passports and being erased by the government... this is the ad you put out?” he added. 

On his first day back in the White House, President Donald Trump revoked Joe Biden’s executive orders aimed at preventing discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation. 

He also signed an order recognizing only two sexes — male and female — and scrapped the option for Americans to choose “X” as a gender on passports.

DoubleZero operating chief David McIntyre called Solana’s ad “horrendous” and questioned why Solana didn’t “keep the message positive instead of dunking on people and making light of serious cultural issues.”

Nicolas Pennie, the co-founder of the Solana development platform Helius, said on X that “virtue signaling will always be cringe regardless of political ideology.”

Others who initially backed the ad have also pulled their support amid the backlash.

Related: Crypto firms spent $134M on 2024 US elections, raising influence concerns

Multicoin Capital co-founder Tushar Jain wrote on X that he deleted his initial post praising the ad “after some reflection.” 

He previously called the ad “bold and risky” and said having former Vice President Kamala Harris play the role of therapist was the “only thing that could have made it better.”

In his retraction statement, Jain said it would have been more effective to “focus on deeper culture war issues like the failings of the oppressor-oppressed world view, not surface culture war issues like pronouns,” and the ad could have sent a message “without alienating a portion of the audience.”

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