A pair of reports published Thursday linked the recent rise of sex toys being thrown onto WNBA courts to a cryptocurrency group pushing a memecoin.
A spokesman for the group behind Green Dildo Coin took credit for the trend in an interview with USA Today, while The Athletic reviewed a livestream of cryptocurrency enthusiasts in which speakers celebrated a sex toy being thrown onto the Los Angeles Sparks’ court Tuesday.
The group has claimed that their memecoin’s goal was to combat a “toxic” environment in the cryptocurrency world and insisted that its members did not “dislike women’s sports,“ though it’s unclear why Green Dildo Coin advocates have fixated on the WNBA.
Regardless, WNBA players and coaches have widely criticized the trend, citing safety concerns alongside the unneeded ridicule it’s brought to the league. There have been six known incidents of neon green sex toys being thrown at WNBA games since July 29, per USA Today.
The latest incident came during the Sparks’ home win over the Indiana Fever on Tuesday night. Late in the first half, after Kelsey Plum of Los Angeles shot a free throw, a sex toy was tossed onto the court landing near the feet of Fever guard Sophie Cunningham.
Earlier that day, Cunningham addressed the growing trend on her podcast, “Show Me Something,“ saying, “Everyone’s trying to make sure the W is not a joke and it’s taken seriously, and then that happens. I’m like, how are we ever going to get taken seriously?”
The crypto group’s spokesman defended the stunts to USA Today.
“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,“ he 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.
“We knew that in order to get a voice in the space ... we had to go out and do some viral stunts to save us from having to pay that influencer cabal, sacrifice our souls and the fate of the project.”
The group placed one of its sex toys on the Wall Street Bull statue in New York. And the memecoin’s value has grown more than 300 percent in the past seven days, USA Today reported.
The first major incident has led to an arrest and multiple charges for its perpetrator, Delbert Carver, who tossed a sex toy onto the Atlanta Dream’s court July 29. He was released on bond and is charged with disorderly conduct, public indecency/indecent exposure and criminal trespass.
Despite that, it is not apparent that Green Dildo Coin plans to stop its stunts.
“This is empowering to every (expletive) crypto community to start thinking outside the box,“ one person said on the livestream reviewed by The Athletic. “Get creative and (expletive) do something that makes people actually laugh. Memecoins should make you laugh.” - Reuters
