Justin Sun’s team reportedly complained to Bullish, CoinDesk’s owners, regarding an article about Sun eating the world’s most expensive banana. Sources say Bullish demanded CoinDesk remove the article.
According to a Fortune report published on Dec. 18, the Tron (TRX) founder’s team allegedly went to Bullish, a crypto exchange firm that bought the media outlet for $75 million last year, to demand the removal of an article about Justin Sun eating Maurizio Cattelan’s $6.2 million dollar banana artwork.
The article was published in late November with the title “I Watched Justin Sun Eat the World’s Most Expensive Banana. I Don’t Get It,” which explained the context behind the act itself, the banana’s significance and Sun’s legal troubles with the the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to inside sources Fortune spoke with, Sun’s team disapproved of the tone of CoinDesk’s article, which resulted in Bullish demanding CoinDesk remove the article from its website. This request was met with backlash from the CoinDesk editorial staff who disagreed with the decision and asked for the article to be restored with an editor’s note at a meeting last week.
Based on crypto.news’ internet search, the article titled “I Watched Justin Sun Eat the World’s Most Expensive Banana. I Don’t Get It.” could not be found anywhere on the publication site. However, it is still available on Yahoo News. This article was last updated on Dec. 2.
Coincidentally, the CoinDesk piece also made a note of how Sun’s legal team had a history of threatening news outlets with legal action, specifically regarding reports that allude to the Tron blockchain being misused to fund illicit activities. It is also important to note that Tron is a major sponsor of CoinDesk’s conference series, Consensus.
According to the report, Bullish CEO Tom Farley has not responded to Fortune’s multiple requests for comment. The same can be said about CoinDesk’s editor-in-chief Kevin Reynolds and a spokesperson for Justin Sun, neither of them have confirmed Fortune’s findings.
Moreover, sources claimed that Matt Murray, chair of CoinDesk’s editorial committee, resigned on Monday, Dec. 16. Though, Murray declined Fortune’s request for comment.
In November 2023, Bullish acquired CoinDesk from its previous parent company, Digital Currency Group. As previously reported by crypto.news, the acquisition raised concerns over CoinDesk’s editorial independence moving forward.
Along with the acquisition, former Editor-in-Chief of The Wall Street Journal Matt Murray was appointed Chair of CoinDesk’s Editorial Committee.