Multiple pro-women's basketball games were interrupted in the past several days after sex toys were thrown onto courts, leaving players and coaches frustrated and fans puzzled.
What began as a seemingly isolated incident of a fan throwing a sex toy onto the court during a game on 29 July; has spawned a series of copycat incidents, drawing outrage from players, coaches and commentators alike. The reported story behind how it all began has opened a strange window into the Gen Z meme culture; the desire to "go viral," the bro culture surrounding cryptocurrency and the continued sexism and misogyny that still surrounds women’s sports.
Two of the instigators are now facing criminal charges and the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) has condemned such behaviour. This week, members of a meme-coin group reportedly claimed responsibility for some of the incidents in which brightly coloured dildos were thrown onto the court or bench area during games.
Players and coaches are concerned about safety and the meaning and hostility behind the incidents. The game between the Atlanta Dream and the Chicago Sky was paused in the closing seconds on Thursday night after a purple sex toy was tossed from the stands onto the court.
While individuals in the stands were reportedly questioned, no one was arrested. The WNBA has said any fan caught throwing sex toys onto the court would be banned from the league and would face prosecution.
The exact number of incidents is unclear because, in some instances, items are thrown but don't reach the court or the bench. "It's super disrespectful," Chicago Sky player, Elizabeth Williams, said after a similar incident last week. "I don't really get the point of it. It's really immature. Whoever is doing it needs to grow up."
Minnesota Lynx Head Coach, Cheryl Reeve, called the increasing number of incidents a, "distraction." "This has been going on for centuries," she told reporters on Thursday. "The sexualization of women. This is the latest version of that. And it's not funny and it should not be the butt of jokes on radio shows, or in print or any comments."
On Tuesday, as the Indiana Fever played the Los Angeles Sparks, a green sex toy landed on the court near Indiana player, Sophie Cunningham. She had posted on social media days before, asking the culprits to stop throwing the objects saying, "you're going to hurt one of us".
"Everyone's trying to make sure the W is not a joke and it's taken seriously, and then that happens," Cunningham said, on her podcast episode on Tuesday.
So far, two arrests have been made. In Atlanta, Delbert Carver, 23, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, public indecency/indecent exposure and criminal trespass after he was accused of throwing a sex toy at a game on 29 July.
The WNBA responded in a statement: "The safety and well-being of everyone in our arenas is a top priority for our league. Objects of any kind thrown onto the court or in the seating area can pose a safety risk for players, game officials, and fans."
The second arrest was Kaden Lopez, 18, also accused of throwing a sex toy at a 5 August game in Phoenix and hitting a man watching the game on the head.
The incidents have been the subject of jokes from some right-wing commentators, notably Donald Trump Jr.; but those closest to the incidents don’t find them funny.
On Friday, a WNBA spokesperson said the league was working with law enforcement agencies to pursue, "anyone engaged in this conduct or otherwise involved in sponsoring this reckless and unacceptable behaviour" so that they will be arrested and charged with relevant felony charges.
The WNBA is no stranger to being the target of sexism and racism. While the league is synonymous with inclusivity, especially for Black and queer women, it has found itself caught up in the larger American culture war in recent years as its popularity has skyrocketed. Some see this trend of throwing sex toys into the middle of games as the latest manifestation of that.
Just before the first incident on 29 July, people in the group’s Telegram chat were sending each other memes, asking at which WNBA game the stunt would happen and talking about exactly how viral they were going.
When the sex toy hit the court during a game, the Golden State’s Valkyries’ 77-75 victory over the Atlanta Dream, they could barely contain their glee.
In the time since, three more sex toys have reached the court during WNBA games while at least another two were thrown but didn’t reach the court, according to social media posts seen by the Associated Press.
The repeated incidents are inspiring action in another online space beloved among young men: Sports gambling. On the online betting site, Polymarket, people bet more than $460 000 on whether another sex toy would be thrown at a WNBA game by Friday. Another site took bets on the color of the next sex toy thrown.
One user, whose X handle matches the one ESPN and USA Today named as the spokesperson for the crypto group, posted a screenshot of winning $20 000 on a bet related to the incidents.
The spokesperson said the new coin was in protest of the current state of the crypto market and the group said they were "viral stunts" to gain attention for the coin. The spokesperson rejected the idea that the incidents were disrespectful toward female athletes.
"It isn’t a movement against women, it is targeted to bring awareness to meme culture and the crypto space,”"the group said.
When asked if they had targeted any male sports leagues for similar incidents, the group said that it had also shown a sex toy on camera at a Major League Baseball game and hinted more are coming.
For all the talk of the WNBA enjoying record-breaking viewing figures and reaching a new moment in which women’s sports have ascended to a new level of popularity, this trend highlights the sexism still directed towards the players and the league, even if it is latent rather than explicit for the group claiming responsibility for it.
Among the players, there was confusion at first – after all, a bright green sex toy flying onto a basketball court was not a common sight a week ago – and some of them even joked about the situation.
Fever point guard, Sydney Colson, appeared on her podcast dressed in green and sat for a deadpan interview as the "inanimate object," a stunt that prompted Angel Reese to tease her after the second incident.
"Hey (Sydney)," she joked. "Who do you keep throwing your mean green in different arenas… it’s getting weird."
As the incidents have become more and more common, players have raised safety concerns about fans throwing things from the stands.
WNBA commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, called the trend, "totally unacceptable." "Hopefully, it just ends with the fact that, if you want a felony conviction on your record, go ahead and do it," she told Sportico Sports Business before the latest incident on Thursday. “But obviously it can be very dangerous to throw anything, let alone what they are throwing.”
Since the incidents have increased, community members from a meme-coin called Green Dildo Coin have taken responsibility for some of the disruptions.
A spokesperson for the group told USA Today that members started throwing green sex toys to coincide with the launch of the meme-coin, which was created the day before the first incident. The group wanted to use the "viral stunts" to garner attention, they said.
"We didn't do this because like we dislike women's sports or, like, some of the narratives that are trending right now are ridiculous," the spokesperson said anonymously in a Thursday article. The incidents were designed to promote a so-called "meme coin," claim the digital token’s creators. These cryptocurrencies see their value increase as more buyers pile into the assets.
The creators of the, "green dildo coin" token, which has its own website, have yet to publicly reveal their identities. In an interview with NBC News, one of the backers, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, denied the scheme had anything to do with racism or misogyny, and was instead designed to promote the meme coin community, which he said is increasingly captured by "influencer cabals" and other bad actors.
"Our group is put together to make people laugh, make meme coins fun and funny again, and try to revive a culture of crypto that’s been lost," he said.
He said the original plan was to have four individuals launch green sex toys — which he said were designed to represent the spirit of bullish trading — onto WNBA courts in a single night last Tuesday. One individual ultimately decided against going through with it, while another’s throw didn’t make it onto the court. A third individual got arrested.
They added that the two arrested were not associated with the group.
I don't care what the group says, these acts look like an act of sexism and misogyny. Why, then, are they not thrown at men's sports games? It's very suspicious to me. To me, there's nothing funny about this. It's rather offensive.
There are other ways to garner attention and promote something. This act shows that the members have no creativity. Targeting a single group will do them no favours. This is especially true when the recipients don't see the funny side of it and, instead, are offended by it.
I agree that criminal charges should be dished out to the perpetrators.