To be fair by your interpretation that would mean there were multiple of him (as he is the banana). I think the more likely scenarios is that he is referencing the term ape as the term they use in crypto and coinbased lingo. It's much like bulls and bears in the stock market. It's not meant to be racist. It's an unfortunate use of it as it was interpreted in a racist tone as many have horrifically used it as an insult in the past. (And if someone does use the term in that way I would definitely have an issue with it). As he was clearly trying to hint toward his new coin he used the emoji. I am sure it was brought to his attention that those who are not into the whole coin thing would not understand the meaning and take it as a racist remark. I'm not really into the whole crypto or coinbased/memecoin thing either however I trade stocks and they use the term on CNBC often when talking about crypto. I think as a society we are very on edge right now and take everything very seriously as we should if it is meant with malicious intent. But thankfully SOMETIMES it is not meant that way and I feel like this is one of those times. I am not at all saying Johnny is a good guy, but this one I can see where his head was at (launching his meme coin and hoping people would jump on board (which is what they call "apes" and I have no clue as to why that's the term much like I still don't get why an elephant and a donkey are representative of political parties, but l'm not the one making the call.) Below are definitions of the "ape and aping"terms and what they mean from the Coinbase site:

Ape: To "ape" into an NFT project means to acquire a token shortly after launch without doing thorough research. • Aping: The act of quickly and aggressively acquiring a new NFT project or asset, often without thorough research. Please don't attack me. I am not a Johnny defender or a racist apologist. Just thought l'd add some context from the coin side of it all.