They did it for the lulz.
A pair of well-known crypto bros paid an eye-watering $250,000 for a broken Nintendo Switch and a pair of underwear belonging to the CEO of GameStop as part of a New York City charity auction that raised money for a children’s hospital this week, The Post has learned.
The duo — who declined to give their real names for safety concerns — said they were willing to dole out the hefty sum for the items because of the symbolism the junk held to their fellow folks behind the 2021 GameStop short squeeze escapade.
“Obviously, when you have like the CEO of the company saying that he’s going to include his underwear and things like that, it’s now becoming like an incredible meme in the GameStop subculture,” explained one half of the pair, who would only go by his initials, DC, citing safety concerns.
“So we’ve really aligned with the idea that we could have this part of the GameStop lore.”
His partner, JM, added: “That’s going on the wall!”
The duo — who are the ones behind the famous crypto wallet FBB4 — has been avid GameStop meme followers since the dying video game retailer’s stock was infamously short-squeezed by random online investors as a way to stick it to Wall Street.
The incident started the concept of meme stocks, which are driven less by market value and more by the whims of Internet trolls — the most recent of which was the meteoric rise of American Eagle clothing after the Sydney Sweeney “good jeans” dustup.
GameStop again entered the annals of Internet lore on June 5, with another incident known in the gaming community as “Staplegate.”
The now-legendary mix-up came when a worker at a Staten Island GameStop unwittingly destroyed a handful of Nintendo Switch 2s — which were about to go on sale, rare and highly coveted by gamers — by stapling receipts onto the boxes.
The young man — whose identity his employers are keeping under wraps — was terrified.
The toys were already in such intense demand that retailers were struggling to keep up with pre-orders and gamers were lining up for hours for the chance to get their hands on the $499.99 console.
“I know he was a little nervous because the first thought is, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to lose my job!’ I think his first reaction was ‘Uh-oh!’” said Chris Toro, the district manager for GameStop’s metro locations, adding that the employee was in his “early 20s.”
“He was a new associate. Probably his first job. And we said, ‘Listen, people make mistakes. So we took care of it.”
GameStop refurbished the broken consoles and replaced the damaged ones — but auctioned off what they claim was the first to get pummeled by the employee’s stapler.
It came with the original damaged box, the black stapler and the offending staple, “carefully extracted and preserved,” and the GameStop CEO, Ryan Cohen, offered to throw in a pair of his unmentionables as the price climbed to six figures.
“Why not?” said Cohen, denying that it might be weird for another man to have his drawers in their home: “I never thought about it.”
The overarching goal was to spin the Staplegate incident into something positive, he continued.
“It’s on brand … We always come up with crazy s–t at GameStop. There’s never a dull day.”
Cohen overnighted a clean pair of black Calvin Kleins to Manhattan and had them framed for the occasion, saying he picked the pair because “It just felt right.”
JM denied that the undergarments were the reason he and DC pounced on the auction, but admitted it was cool to have something so personal belonging to the “Meme King,” and is hopeful for the chance to meet Cohen.
“We’re pretty stoked for that, though. It might feel a little awkward. I don’t know if I can look him in the eye,” JM joked.
JM and DC had expertly waited until the final minutes of the auction to submit their $250,000 bid, which was creeping to the limit of $269,420 they were willing to fork over.
Every penny will benefit the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, which serve 12 million children across the US and Canada every year, battling every type of disease or health defect.
“It can be for lifesaving treatment, it can be for programs and services for patients and their families, it can be for research, it can be for medical equipment,” said Aimee Daily, the hospital’s president and CEO.
“We really believe that this is actually going to be a catalyst for additional fundraising for hospitals through our extra life-saving programs … We think with GameStop’s creativity and their support of this, this will continue to grow. And the $250,000 will become even more.”
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