‘Disaster Girl’ Meme Has Been Sold As A NFT For Nearly $500,000

Zoe Roth is popularly known as Disaster Girl. She attained fame and became a meme due to an image macro taken by her father in 2005 where she smirks at the camera while a house burns down in the background. Fast forward to now, Zoe has officially sold the original copy of the meme as an NFT for nearly $500,000.

Zoe Roth has officially sold the original copy of her meme ‘Disaster Girl’ as an NFT for nearly $500,000.

The now 21-Year-Old sold the image to a user identified as @3FMusic for 180 Ether, a form of Cryptocurrency. At the time it was sold, MarketWatch reported it was worth the equivalent of $490,700. In an interview with The New York Times, Roth shared that she will use the money to pay off her student loans and donate to charity. 

Zoe, at age 4, became a meme due to an image taken by her father in 2005 where she smirks at the camera while a house burns down in the background.

As is the case with many NFT sales, Roth and her dad Dave Roth will retain the copyright to the photo and make 10% off any future sales of the NFT. Roth told the Times that the image was particularly taken when she was age 4, adding that she went with her family to watch as firefighters set a house ablaze in a controlled fire in her Mebane, N.C neighborhood. 

The now 21-Year-Old picture with dad Dave Roth plans to use the money to pay off her student loans and donate to charity. 

She explained that her father had urged her to smile during the incident, thereby creating the world’s photo as Disaster Girl. In 2007, Roth’s father entered a photo contest and did win. Since then, the image went on to be edited into different scenarios, including the Titanic ship sinking after hitting an iceberg and a meteor wiping out a dinosaur. 

Zoe’s viral image has since been edited into different scenarios, including the Titanic ship sinking after hitting an iceberg.

In the interview with Times, Roth revealed that before she decided to auction her photo, she consulted other people who have been captured in viral memes, including Kyle Craven, known as “Bad Luck Brian” and the mother of “Success Kid.” However, Roth, who’s now a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is by no means the first meme star to sell out her image. 

As is the case with many NFT sales, Roth and her dad Dave Roth will retain the copyright to the photo and make 10% off any future sales.

Kyle Craven’s original meme image had sold for $36,000, while Laina Morris, the Overly Attached Girlfriend Meme, had sold for $411,000 earlier in April. On the other hand, Ben Lashes, who manages Success Kid and the stars of other memes, claims his clients have so far made more than $2million in NFT sales.