NFTs are basically the digital equivalent of owning expensive physical original art pieces. The real value of an art piece is being able to admire it, yet wealthy patrons have always paid enormous sums of money for the privilege of owning "authentic originals", and nobody really cared because talented artists deserve to be paid by someone and who else is going to do it? Now digital artists can do the same.

I don't think NFTs would be as controversial as they are if they didn't have the misfortune of appearing at the same time AI art took off, creating a sudden surge in mediocre art that could be exploited with FOMO mentality. Those fugly apes are pretty much a symbol of all the worst aspects of NFTs, and because NFTs never really got a chance to show their positive side before they were turned into a pyramid scheme they wound up despised.

The technology won't be stained forever though - once people finally figure out how to handle AI art I expect they will become normalized and be a source of income for good digital artists. But it may take a while for them to shake off that stigma.