The WNBA shared a new statement with The Athletic on Friday about the barrage of neon green sex toys that have been interrupting games across the league since July 29.
“The safety of everyone in our arenas remains a top priority,” the statement from a WNBA spokesperson reads, via The Athletic.
“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.”
The W previously released a statement last weekend, warning that anyone throwing an object onto the court would be immediately ejected and subject to a minimum one-year ban, along with risk of arrest and prosecution by local authorities.
A spokesperson for the group behind the meme coin Green Dildo Coin, which is taking credit for the sex-toy-throwing "pranks," spoke to USA Today anonymously in an interview published Thursday.
The meme coin was launched on July 28 to oppose what the group considers the crypto world's "toxic environment," per USA Today. A day later, the first sex toy incident took place. The spokesperson who USA Today interviewed maintained that the green sex toys were intended as marketing devices.
The Athletic reported that, as of Thursday, the coin's worth had just about tripled in its first week.
"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 cryptocurrency group spokesperson said, via USA Today. "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, more or less."
But WNBA players and coaches, as well as fans of the league, are understandably frustrated.
“The sexualization of women is what’s used to hold women down, and this is no different,” Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said Thursday. “These people that are doing this should be held accountable. We’re not the butt of the joke, they’re the problem.”
Two days earlier, after another object was thrown at a Los Angeles Sparks game, Sparks coach Lynne Roberts sounded off.
"It's ridiculous. It's dumb. It's stupid," she said. "It's also dangerous, and, you know, player safety is No. 1, respecting the game, all those things. I think it's really stupid."
Two arrests have been made so far, although neither person arrested is part of the cryptocurrency group, according to the spokesperson who talked to USA Today.
While the group's spokesperson suggested that future "pranks" will be "more tasteful" and "in different places that are high-traffic areas with cameras," two more objects were thrown in a WNBA game Thursday night, interrupting play between the Chicago Sky and Atlanta Dream.
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