Jonathan Little Slammed for Photographing Homeless Man to Sell as NFT

Jonathan Little has been roundly condemned by fellow pros and the wider poker community this week after taking photos of a sleeping homeless woman and trying to sell it as an NFT.

The year is 2021. You're broke and desperate in Las Vegas and finally stumble into what shade you can find, closing your eyes for the first time in a day. Then @JonathanLittle comes up and snaps your photo so he can sell it on the internet https://t.co/XcjSRZKtF1pic.twitter.com/b1eMPLMVQb

— Bakes (@DMBakes) November 14, 2021

The bizarre and disconcerting behaviour of Little – described by Dan “Cowboy” Smith as “gross and embarrassing” – also involved snapping pics of female butts and various other views of Las Vegas, though he claims he paid everyone he photographed.

Dan, I greatly respect you and your opinion. The series was made to show Vegas as it actually is. I realize that keeping the tone of the titles/descriptions light was perhaps not ideal. Do you have ideas for ways that I can do better? Thank you.

— Jonathan Little (@JonathanLittle) November 15, 2021

Little tweeted:

“I paid the two girls $20, which was the price they asked for, and I gave the person in Nap Time $100.”

The photo titled “Nap Time” enraged a huge number of Twitter poker fans, Brendan Kaufman tweeting:

“Come the fuck on, we cannot be selling pictures of homeless people. This makes me pretty angry.”

Irish pro David Lappin was another who was disgusted by Little’s actions:

“Aside from these NFTs having 0 artistic value, the photo of the guy asleep is exploitation, the title ‘nap time’ mocks him, throwing him $100 (which I doubt he did) is gross + how did that work exactly? Payment, permission + then staged photo? Wake him after + send him ethereum?”

Little is no stranger to controversy, dropped by Full Tilt as far back as 2008 for allowing other players to use his account and more recently accused of cashing in on the Postlegate scandal, voter fraud controversy in an online book poll, and banned by ACR boss Phil Nagy for derogatory comments about the US-facing poker site.

That and many other incidents have given Little a rather shabby reputation among his peers, with Chris Kruk taking the direct approach on Twitter.

There needs to be some sort of list you can earn your way onto that gets you banned/shunned from poker because you're either too shitty for us to have to tolerate or too stupid to be anything but a danger. We shouldn't have to guess which one it is- either/or should be sufficient

— Chris Kruk (@chriskruk4) November 14, 2021

After the vast majority of comments on social media called him out for his actions, a shamed Little finally came back with an apology.

I recently created a series of NFT photos designed to show the goods and bads of Downtown Las Vegas. Many people either neglect or are unaware of the bad side of Vegas. One of the photos is of a homeless person sleeping in the shade.

— Jonathan Little (@JonathanLittle) November 15, 2021

Little’s follow up tweets explained further:

“I paid her $100 for the photo and thought that was helping her out, but I see how that was wrong and demeaning. I certainly meant no offense. I have deleted the image as a few of you suggested I do. I will also be making a donation to a charity that helps house/feed the homeless.”

The 36-year-old Florida-born pro added:

“If anyone knows the ideal charity (that ideally accepts btc/eth), please let me know. Thanks to those who brought this to my attention. I am always trying to be better and add value. I realize now that in this instance I messed up.”