The Curb Your Enthusiasm star's appearance as a time traveling idiot in a Super Bowl ad for FTX, a crypto currency exchange, left many of David's fans baffled, dismayed and divided. (FTX also released a 2-1/2 minute "Larry's Cut" version of the ad.) "The ad was complete with a crypto giveaway, and left everyone at home entirely confused," says The Cut's Olivia Truffaut-Wong. "I’m sorry, but Larry David starring in a crypto commercial definitely feels like a sign of the apocalypse. It’s the kind of thing I would expect in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, not our actual reality. Twitter will be debating the ad for days to come, but one thing we can all agree on is that there is no way David knows what cryptocurrency is. And while I would normally completely endorse crypto-ignorance, if you’re going to sell something to millions of people, you might want to know what it is." Slate's Justin Peters says "this was one of the funniest ads of the night, but, man, I can’t be the only one getting major turn-of-the-century dot-com vibes from all these triumphalist crypto ads. By the logic of this ad, Larry David would have been skeptical about Pets.com, too—and, you know what? He would have been right!" Later, LeBron James schooled his younger self about taking chances in an ad for Crypto.com. As the Los Angeles Times' Ryan Faughdner notes, "the star-studded ads were the latest example of the entertainment industry’s growing interest in everything blockchain. In the past year, there’s been a preponderance of actors, musicians and athletes talking up digital currencies and or NFTs — unique digital records authenticating ownership of an item, tracked on a digital ledger." But, Faughdner adds, "critics have balked at the spectacle of the rich and famous encouraging viewers to gamble on a risky and speculative market that has been plagued by grifters. Skeptics say the cryptocurrency and NFT craze has primarily benefited wealthy early adopters — the true believers — who could afford to get in early."
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TOPICS: Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Super Bowl LVI, Jeff Schaffer, LeBron James, Advertising, crypto currency, FTX, Super Bowl