In his own words, he was "an idiot."
Peer Pressure
Cue the music from you-know-what, because comedian Larry David of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" fame has spoken up about the infamous Super Bowl ad he made for FTX, the now bankrupt and utterly disgraced cryptocurrency exchange. In his own words, he was "an idiot" for endorsing the company.
"You know, I asked people, friends of mine who were well versed in this stuff, 'Should I do this ad? Is there anything wrong with this, me doing this? Is this okay?" David, whose lawyer claimed on his behalf that he didn't know anything about crypto, told the Associated Press at the premiere of "Curb's" final season.
"And they said, 'Yeah, this is totally on the up and up. Yeah. It's fine. Do it,'" he continued. "So, like an idiot, I did it."
Larry David reflects on his 2022 Super Bowl ad for a cryptocurrency trading platform called FTX, amid an ongoing fraud case against Sam Bankman-Fried, the company's founder. David reunited with his "Curb Your Enthusiasm" cast members for the show's final season premiere. pic.twitter.com/8KReLNBb3y
— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) January 31, 2024
Bad Bet
At least he's owning up to it. The ad features the "Seinfeld" cocreator playing various iterations of a loudmouthed goofball who's skeptical about historic inventions before they take off, like the wheel, the toilet, and the light bulb. When by the end he's pitched with FTX, David smirks and says, "I don't think so. And I'm never wrong about this stuff."
It's a tongue-in-cheek endorsement made all the more ironic by the exchange's eventual fate — and crypto's downturn writ large. In November 2023, a year after FTX collapsed in spectacular fashion, CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty of fraud and money laundering, facing up to 110 years in prison.
David himself may also be facing legal action for his involvement with FTX. Soon after the firm's collapse in November 2022, a lawsuit was filed accusing him of defrauding the crypto hub's investors. The suit, which is still ongoing, also named other high profile celebs who were paid millions of dollars to do commercials for the company like Tom Brady, in addition to Bankman-Fried.
It's a "class action lawsuit which I would love to be part of," David quipped to the AP, "because part of my salary was in crypto! So I lost a lot of money."
So you can cue the Curb music again. If it's any consolation, David, at least you probably didn't lose as much dough as Brady did — but maybe think twice about what you lend your name to in the future.
More on crypto: Pastor Accused of Crypto Scam Says God Told Him to Do It
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