Objects being thrown at WNBA players during games

Post Reply New Topic

Another sex toy was hurled from the stands toward WNBA players on Tuesday night, with the latest vulgar prank unfolding in Los Angeles during the Fever-Sparks game.

The object landed on the Crypto.com Arena floor in Los Angeles, near the feet of Fever guard Sophie Cunningham as officials momentarily stopped the game.

Sparks guard Kelsey Plum then kicked it off the floor and play resumed.

“I think its ridiculous. It’s dumb. It's stupid,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts told reporters after the game. “It’s also dangerous and players’ safety is No. 1. Respecting the game. All those things. I think it’s really stupid. That's all I'm going to say.”

Plum praised both teams and officials for giving the incident little attention in the moment.

"I thought we did a great job, Indiana included, just playing on like, don't give it any attention. And the refs, I really appreciate them too. It's just like, 'Hey, let's go (on with the game).' "

The string of incidents began on Tuesday of last week when a fan hurled a bright green object on to the floor at Gateway Center in College Park, Georgia, during the Golden State Valkyries-Atlanta Dream game.

The second such incident happened Friday during the third quarter of Golden State's game against the Chicago Sky at Wintrust Arena.

Following the Chicago incident, Cunningham told her 230,000 followers on X over the weekend to stop throwing objects on to the floor because "you’re going to hurt one of us”.

Yet another sex toy was thrown onto a WNBA court, this time in the closing seconds of the Atlanta Dream’s 86-65 win over the Chicago Sky.

With just under six seconds remaining at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago on Thursday, play was momentarily stopped after a purple toy was thrown from the stands – the fourth in growing lists of recent copycat incidents.

According to Front Office Sports reporter Colin Salao, a second sex toy was thrown on Thursday but only made it behind the Dream’s bench.

Two men were questioned by security shortly after the incident, according to Salao, but were let go as there was no evidence they were responsible.

CNN Sports has also reached out to the WNBA, the Chicago Sky and the Atlanta Dream for comment.

Earlier this week, the WNBA said any fan caught throwing sex toys onto the court will face prosecution as well as a ban from the league.

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has also denounced the trend, calling it “unacceptable.”

“I’m almost in my 40th year in business and unfortunately we get these kinds of acts and it’s totally unacceptable,” Engelbert said to Sportico Sports Business, before the latest incident on Thursday.

“These people are trading whatever notoriety they’re getting for a felony conviction. So, we have caught two of the guys and they’re being charged with felonies and it doesn’t make any sense to me for whatever their little joy ride is.”

She added: “Hopefully, it just ends with the fact that, if you want a felony conviction on your record, go ahead and do it. But obviously it can be very dangerous to throw anything, let alone what they are throwing.”

It is the second time a Sky game was interrupted by an incident. Last Friday, a sex toy was thrown from the stands during the team’s game against the Golden State Valkyries. The toy landed just out of bounds underneath one of the baskets.

A ‘distraction’
Earlier on Thursday, Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve called the growing number of incidents a “distraction.”

“This has been going on for centuries,” Reeve told reporters. “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.

“The sexualization of women is what’s used to hold women down and this is no different. This is its latest form and we should write about it in that way. These people that are doing this should be held accountable and we’re not the butt of the joke. They’re the problem.”

A growing trend
On Thursday, a group of cryptocurrency meme coin creators claimed responsibility for some of the incidents.

In an interview with USA Today, a spokesperson for the group said members had started throwing the green items to coincide with the launch of a new meme coin, the name of which is a play on a type of sex toy.

The spokesperson told the outlet 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, rejecting the narrative that the incidents were disrespectful towards women’s athletes.

“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.

“Creating disruption at games is like, it happens in every single sport, right? We’ve seen it in the NFL, we’ve seen it in hockey, you know … fans doing random things to more or less create attention.”

New York police on Monday were still looking for a man who threw a sex toy during a WNBA game, striking a little girl in attendance, officials said.

The NYPD on Friday released a photo and a short video clip of a man wearing a "Beavis and Butt-Head" T-shirt and an Ohio State cap at the New York Liberty-Dallas Wings game last Tuesday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Police said that, during the game, "an unidentified individual threw an object which struck a 12-year-old female victim in the right leg."

Two men, so far, have been arrested in connection with the incidents in Georgia and Phoenix.

“The safety of everyone in our arenas remains a top priority," a WNBA spokesperson said.

"We are working closely with local and federal law enforcement to pursue all appropriate actions — including arrest and prosecution with felony charges where applicable — against anyone engaged in this conduct or otherwise involved in sponsoring this reckless and unacceptable behavior.