‘Internet Villain’ Martin Shkreli Looking to Join 4chan’s Board of Directors

4chan owner Hiroyuki Nishimura responded to pharmaceutical entrepreneur and internet villain Martin Shkreli’s interest in joining the company’s board of directors, acknowledging Shkreli publicly before taking their conversation private.

“I’m open to joining the Board of Directors of 4Chan,” declared Shkreli in a series of posts to Twitter on Sunday. “I am businessman from America we have matters to discuss”.

https://twitter.com/MartinShkreli/status/782649157404229633

https://twitter.com/MartinShkreli/status/782677328803557377

Nishimura, who purchased 4chan last year from the image board’s founder, Christopher “Moot” Poole, replied just a few hours later, tweeting, “I have replied your DM. Thank you for supporting 4chan.”

The pair have since received a wave of both supportive and hostile comments, with the possibility of Shkreli’s involvement in 4chan generating mixed feelings from users.

“When Martin Shkreli asks to join your board your response should be what office would you like sir,” commented one user encouragingly. “This would be the best thing to ever happen to 4chan!” declared another.

“No japanese moot please do not do this,” begged one follower of Nishimura’s, while another replied, “This sounds bad”.

“I would not regulate it,” announced Shkreli during a Periscope livestream, after a viewer asked whether he would place further rules and restrictions on the site. “That’s what people like about 4chan. It should be kept that way. It’s very edgy. It’s very deviant.”

“That’s what people enjoy about the website,” he continued. “Why would you eliminate its biggest strength?”

Shkreli has become infamous in the media over the past year for a series of business decisions, deals, and publicity stunts that have since catapulted him to fame.

Last year, Shkreli became known as “the most hated man in America” after he raised the price of an AIDS drug by 5,000%. In December, he bought the only copy of  Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, an unreleased album by the Wu-Tang Clan, for $2 million.

More recently, Shkreli has appeared on The Milo Yiannopoulos Show, predicted Hillary Clinton’s health problems, and auctioned off the chance to punch him in the face for a charitable cause.

Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook.