Kevin Collier, a reporter for NBC News, had a strange encounter at this year's NFT NYC conference, but it wasn't with a famous rapper.

"I was at the NFT NYC conference again in Times Square, and Snoop walked by, flanked by security." I grabbed his handler and said I'd like a few minutes. The guy said that it's not him but they hired him to drum up excitement.

It seems like the NFT conference tried to make it look like a celebrity was at the event. Instead of paying a real star, they saved a buck and hired an imitation.

It feels like a metaphor.

It's even more puzzling since the hip hop legend is a big fan of NFTs. Several of the star's collections have been launched.

Some people doubled down on the irony.

"Kevin, you just don't know what you're talking about," Ben Collins said, likening the person to an NFT. They did not pay for him. They paid for a receipt that said they knew where he was and that they could think about him whenever they wanted.

There is a seemingly endless list of speakers on the conference's website.

Social media is abuzz with reports of a rapper showing up in New York. The picture uploaded by Rene Hennen appears to show a person who is not real. A different video shows a man taking selfies with people who don't know he's doing it.

The star has a doppelganger who has posed for photos with him on a number of occasions.

At the same time, a separate event is being held by the NFT at Pier 17 in New York.

Is this really meant to be serious? Is it a commentary on the fact that NFTs are representations of a thing and not the thing itself?

We don't know, and he hasn't responded to our request for comments.

Family Guy actor paid a huge amount of money for a stolen dog.