"Thought the guy ate it" - Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian pokes fun at viral duct tape banana art as he 'arrives too late' to Art Basel Miami

Tennis legend Serena Williams' husband and Reddit co-founder, Alexis Ohanian, brought humor to the 2024 Art Basel Miami Beach. Ohanian shared a cheeky video involving one of contemporary art’s most viral installations: the duct-tape banana.

The centerpiece of this comedic art tale is "Comedian," an artwork by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. This piece features a simple banana duct-taped to a wall and made waves when it first appeared in 2019 at Art Basel Miami Beach. Its absurd simplicity sparked debates across the art world, culminating in an episode where another artist ate the banana, prompting a swift replacement.

Despite, or perhaps because of, its controversy, "Comedian" sold for prices between $120,000 and $150,000, per the Perrotin gallery. Last month, it fetched an astonishing $6.24 million at a Sotheby's auction, acquired by Justin Sun, a Chinese cryptocurrency magnate, who then ate the banana himself.

This year, banana-themed artworks were everywhere at the 2024 Art Basel Miami Beach. Notable pieces included "Bang-nana," a banana secured to the wall with a grenade pin, and "Woodnanas," peeled-open banana sculptures. The Ben Brown Fine Arts Gallery also presented Gavin Turk’s "Giraffe" (2021), a painted bronze sculpture mimicking a decaying banana.

On December 5, 2024, Ohanian visited Art Basel Miami Beach, where he captured a decomposing banana sculpture on video. He quipped about his late arrival, sharing the clip on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption:

"Got to Art Basel too late."

"I finally made it to Basel. And they told me I was late, but it's here. Really though, I thought the guy ate it like two days ago. What even is real?" Ohanian said.

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Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian looks back at Sony PlayStation's iconic release on its 30th anniversary

Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian speaking at the Sportico's Invest in Sports New York (Image source: Getty)

Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian, celebrated Sony PlayStation's 30th anniversary by sharing an iconic piece of its history.

First launched in Japan on December 3, 1994, the PlayStation revolutionized gaming with its 3D graphics and CD-quality sound, selling over 100,000 units on its very first day.

On December 3, 2024, Ohanian marked the occasion by posting a clip of the console's legendary startup screen and sound on X (formerly Twitter), captioning it:

"30 years 🥲"

Alexis Ohanian revealed that his path to founding Reddit was inspired by the video game 'Doom' and the book 'Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture' by David Kushner.