John McAfee will apparently no longer be working with crypto project SkyCoin in an advisory capacity. Although McAfee has not publicly stated the reasoning behind the dismissal, the lead developer of the SkyCoin project and a blog associated with the SkyCoin community allege that the the termination was brought about by the software developer’s recent comments regarding so-called animal abuse in New Zealand.
According to the SkyCoin dev and the blog post, McAfee has been let go over a series of comments he made about having sexual intercourse with, of all things, a humpback whale. McAfee stated last December that he was denied the opportunity to take part in a whale copulating ceremony and thus sought one out to perform the deed by himself.
SkyCoin Casts McAfee Back to the Ocean
Yesterday, crypto uber-bull and software developer John McAfee took to Twitter to reveal that he would no longer be providing advisory services to the decentralised web project SkyCoin. The software developer and controversial cryptocurrency figure did not give exact reasoning for his sudden departure, instead stating that those who wanted more information could contact him via Twitter direct message:
I am no longer working with or promoting Skycoin. DM me if you want to know the reasons.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) March 20, 2019
Many were on hand in the comments to remind McAfee of the SkyCoin tattoo he had previously had done. To one such respondent, McAfee alluded to some potential foul play behind closed doors at SkyCoin:
“I’ll keep it [the tattoo] as a reminder that no matter how old I get, I still get scammed by unscrupulous people with pie in the sky plans. They almost drove me to violence.”
McAfee’s announcement yesterday was suitably vague with many, presumably mostly SkyCoin bag holders, questioning the sudden departure from the decentralised web project. Fortunately, representatives from SkyCoin have helped to fill in some of the gaps within the story.
The first resource detailing the reasoning for McAfee’s supposed termination as adviser comes from the SkyCoin community (known as the Sky Fleet) blog. The post details that McAfee had to be removed from his position as SkyCoin adviser following comments he made via Twitter in December 2018.
In the post, the author, Lawrence Qholloi, states that the lead developer of the SkyCoin project goes by the name “Synth”. Synth, presumably along with other SkyCoin developers, supports the version of events detailed in the blog:
We had to sever our relationship with McAfee after his irresponsible tweets about whaling fucking.
— Synth (@NotSkycoinCEO) March 21, 2019
In the comments section of the Tweet, Synth supported this initial statement and that of the Sky Fleet blog post:
“Our corporate partners do not want SkyCoin associated with animal abuse.”
The blog also details the opinion of supposed individual on the SkyCoin development team. This person wished to remain anonymous:
“His [McAfee’s] drug fueled [sic] demanding demeanour [is] not meant for business”.
The Tweets by McAfee referenced by Synth and the blog can be seen below:
Tried ro join a secret Maori Whale Fucking club but the discrimination against elderly, bearded, Tagalog speaking white men, which runs rampant in New Zealand, caused them to mistake me for a well known tech personality, and i was soundly thrashed. Tried on my own and failed.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) December 31, 2018
There was considerable backlash from many following this comment. Given the wording of the Tweet, it does seem like McAfee made his whale comments in jest. However, based on how eccentric McAfee can be, the truth is anyone’s guess. The software developer did go on to offer the following as a rebuttal to those who had called him out for making comments referencing cruelty to animals:
Enough of the “Whale Fucking is non-consensual” bullshit. A Humpback Whale weighs 70,000 pounds, is fifty feet long, can dive more than a quarter mile and can crush ships with a single swipe of its tail. If a human manages to fuck one, you damn well better believe it’s consensual
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) December 31, 2018
From McAfee’s vague statement on the matter, we may infer that he left because he was led to believe the team was more competent than they in fact were. Meanwhile, from SkyCoin team, it seems that the case is more about distancing themselves from a potentially divisive character in the crypto community. The real truth behind the dismissal is anyone’s guess.
However, one Twitter user did offer a third interpretation of events, which referenced some of the “paid shilling” McAfee has done for various crypto projects in recent years:
Is it because everything you promote turns to shit?
— ? Shillex ? (@shill_ex) March 20, 2019
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