A group of crypto investors is claiming responsibility for a series of incidents where green sex toys were tossed onto WNBA courts, adding a strange wrinkle to an already-charged furor that casts a shadow over the league.
WNBA games in Atlanta, Brooklyn, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Phoenix have seen bright green, phallic-shaped objects hurled toward the hardwood during play. The incidents have spurred at least two arrests and uproar from WNBA participants and fans.
In fact, the incidents were designed to promote a so-called “meme” coin. These digital 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. But 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 memecoin community, which he said is increasingly captured by “influencer cabals” and other bad actors.
“Our group is put together to make people laugh, make memecoins 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.
The Athletic, the sports outlet owned by the New York Times, and USA Today both reported Thursday on the crypto connection.
The token spokesman reached by NBC News said months of planning had gone the July 28 launch of the campaign, which also includes a website, merchandise, NFT’s and a Telegram social media channel that has now racked up over 1,000 members.
Amid the backlash, he deemed the effort a success.
“People are talking about it. They’re seeing it in places relevant to everyday society,” he said. “It’s why pranks are important to spreading the message — it’s about providing a cool, new, safe place for memes.”
USA Today was the first outlet to speak with a representative from the memecoin group.
The pranks also appear to be paying off financially: By Friday evening, the market cap, or combined value, of all the coins stood at approximately $15 million, according to one market tracker. The value held by each of the top 10 coin owners is now more than $100,000.
The spokesman compared the effort to trying to revive the spirit that helped push meme stocks like Gamestop to new heights several years ago, and which simultaneously challenged more established Wall Street players. He said a green dildo had also been placed on the Wall Street Bull statue in New York, and at a Miami Marlins baseball game.
“You have the ability to participate financially in a trend or movement,” the man said. He added that in contrast to many digital tokens whose virality — and value — may be tied to a single TikTok creator, “a meme coin gets created through a trend, pranks, content, and then every average person gets to monetize that trend, that’s more or less the beauty of it.”
The WNBA game incidents have drawn outrage from players and fans of a league already subject to continuous online racist, misogynist invective.
“The safety and well-being of everyone in our arenas is a top priority for our league,” a WNBA rep said Thursday. “Objects of any kind thrown onto the court or in the seating area can pose a safety risk for players, game officials, and fans.”
Anyone who intentionally throws an object onto the court will be immediately ejected and face a minimum one-year ban from attending games, the rep added.
Despite that outrage, the ongoing pranks seem to be endorsed by Donald Trump Jr. — himself heavily involved in crypto projects — who posted a photoshopped meme to social media Thursday showing the president throwing a green sex toy onto a WNBA court from the roof of the White House.
Representatives for the president’s son and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.
At least six incidents involving the vulgar pranks have been reported over the past week, including during a Phoenix Mercury game, where an 18-year-old threw a green sex toy that landed short of the floor. Instead, it hit a man watching the game with his nine-year-old niece, Fox10Phoenix reported. The man, along with the WNBA and operators of the Mercury’s PHX Arena, are seeking to prosecute the perpetrator.
A suspect in that incident, Kaden Lopez, tried to flee after throwing the sex toy but was tackled and held for police, according to court documents. Lopez said he was “very sorry” for the stunt and called his actions a “stupid prank that was trending on social media.”
The memecoin spokesman told NBC News that Lopez was connected to the core memecoin launch group; Lopez could not be reached for comment. A suspect involved in a throwing incident during an Atlanta Dream game, Delbert Carver, admitted to it when interviewed by police, court documents said. He faces multiple charges.
“This was supposed to be a joke and this joke was supposed to go viral,” he told College Park police according to an affidavit.
Carver, 23, could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday.
The memecoin spokesman said the group had no prior knowledge of Carver.
“These are community tokens — we’re not a business,” he said. “Anyone can contribute.”