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.
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 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 do not 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 growing 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.
Ms Cunningham 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,” she said, on her podcast episode 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 29 July WNBA game.
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.
Since the incidents have taken off, 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, 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.
“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.
While many of the incidents included green toys, some were other colours, indicating that not all of the incidents were linked to the meme-coin.
A spokesperson for the meme-coin told USA Today the two arrested were not associated with the group.
