Shortly after the Chinese crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun bought Maurizio Cattelan's Comedian (2019) for an astonishing $6.2m last week at Sotheby's New York, he wrote on X of his intention to eat the banana component of the conceptual work.
Sun fulfilled his promise today at a press conference held at the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong, taking two bites out of the world's most expensive banana. “Eating it at a press conference can also become a part of the artwork's history,” he said, likening the conceptual work to NFTs and blockchain-based art. “Most of its objects and ideas exist as intellectual property and on the internet, as opposed to something physical.”
Sun said he felt “disbelief” when he made the winning bid, beating out other crypto collectors Ryan Zurrer and Cozomo de’Medici.
Sun also took to X yesterday to express his “gratitude” towards Shah Alam, the Bangladeshi immigrant fruit vendor who originally sold the banana for $0.25, before it made its way to the Sotheby's salesroom. Alam was identified by The New York Times, and reportedly broke down in tears upon learning how much the banana had sold for at auction.
To thank Alam, Sun yesterday pledged via X to buy 100,000 bananas from the vendor's stall. Sun claims that Alam owns the fruit stall—meaning he would see significant profits from this gesture—but according to The New York Times, Alam is a shift worker paid $12 an hour by the stall's owner.
This week, Sun also announced he had invested $30m into the crypto project World Liberty Financial, which is backed by the US president-elect Donald Trump. Sun wrote: “The US is becoming the blockchain hub and Bitcoin owes it to @realDonaldTrump.“