Odom, who has develop into a busy participant within the crypto neighborhood, was one in all 220 prime traders who acquired entry to the occasion by being main holders of Trump’s $TRUMP meme coin—a coin that has generated each monetary hype and political controversy.
Upon reaching Trump National Golf Club, Odom was greeted with a cacophony of boos and catcalls by protesters. Individuals jeered and yelled “Hypocrite!” whereas displaying placards studying things like “Don the Con” and “No Kings,” fueled by wrath not solely in opposition to Trump’s crypto initiatives but in addition in opposition to celebrities and traders who had been giving them credibility.
Odom, unbothered, posted a video to social media, declaring, “I’m nearly to move by safety and formally stroll into the Trump Gala.
Truthfully… I’m fired up,” and used the second to promote his personal cryptocurrency, $ODOM, claiming it was “taking the stage at a presidential gala tonight!
Within, the mood was similarly charged. While the elite 25 coin holders had a closed reception and a White House tour, the bulk had been left with little greater than a cursory speech from Trump, who was in attendance for under round 23 minutes earlier than leaving by helicopter.Some company, akin to 25-year-old Nicholas Pinto, had been dissatisfied with the delicacies and never having the ability to meaningfully work together with the president, regardless of having collectively paid nearly $148 million for the coin. The occasion has attracted scathing denunciations from Democrats and ethics specialists, who contend that it offered privileged entry to the president in return for cash from deep-pocketed donors, sparking considerations about doable federal bribery regulation violations in addition to the Structure’s emoluments clause.
The White Home, although, pooh-poohed options of profiteering, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt labeling such allegations “absurd”.
For Odom, the night time was one other installment in his difficult public odyssey-from NBA celeb and reality-television reputation to crypto entrepreneurship-while the broader controversy highlighted the intensifying overlap between celeb, politics, and digital cash in America’s new Gilded Age.
