A cryptocurrency meme coin group is claiming to be behind the string of dildos being thrown at WNBA games.
Green dildos have flown through the air and landed on the court or on other fans at several WNBA games across the country in the past week. At a recent game in Los Angeles, one of the objects appeared to graze the leg of Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham. Two men have been arrested, 23-year-old Delbert Carver in Georgia and 18-year-old Kaden Lopez in Arizona.
A group behind Green Dildo Coin says they are behind some—but not all—of the incidents, including the first. USA Today first reported news of the meme coin group, which told the outlet they chose WNBA games as a means for their “viral stunts,” not as a way to disparage women’s sports.
Front Office Sports contacted the X account behind Green Dildo Coin, which said that Lopez actually is part of the group, but Carver is not. (USA Today reported neither Lopez nor Carver was involved with the meme coin.) The meme group says it threw the first dildo on July 29, but according to ESPN, police say Carver did. Two dildos were thrown at Dream games last week.
“The person in Atlanta that was arrested on [Aug. 2] was not our guy but for some reason admitted to both,” the person behind the account responded in a message to FOS. “We dont know why, maybe the police pressured him into it. We only threw the first.”
The College Park police department confirmed Carver was in their system and his charges of disorderly conduct, public indecency, and criminal trespass, but was unable to provide any documentation including a police affidavit. The Clayton County criminal felony records division did not immediately respond.
Lopez did not allude to the coin in court documents obtained by FOS, but told police he was “very sorry” for the “stupid prank that was trending on social media.”
(Update, Aug. 7, 10:04 p.m. Eastern: Two more were thrown in Chicago during Wednesday night’s blowout Dream win over the Sky. And the Liberty confirmed that there is an active law enforcement investigation into the incident in Brooklyn.)
The Green Dildo Coin account also sent a screen recording from a group chat beginning on July 28, where enthusiasts talked about the coin’s launch that day, and the first WNBA incident on July 29. “What a fucking day fam, we went viral, we were posted all over the world and the army grew,” the screen-recording user sent to the group on July 30. “Brick by brick we get stronger bigger, and build more awareness. The army grew which is most important. We’ve got lots left to cook over the coming weeks. Go green or go home!”
The user also sent a link to the group chat for a “new merch drop” of black t-shirts with white font mimicking the players’ “Pay Us What You Owe Us” message from All-Star Weekend, except the shirts read “Paid You What We Owed You” with the symbol of a dildo wearing sunglasses.
As of late Thursday, the coin’s value has roughly tripled since its launch last week, boosted by an initial spike July 30 before more substantially taking off Wednesday into Thursday. It has a market cap of around $8.5 million trading on the Ethereum blockchain.
A spokesperson for the WNBA referred to the league’s earlier comment about the dildo incidents from Saturday, which said fans could be banned for at least one year and be arrested. “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 statement read. The league is “aware” of the coin promoters’ streams on X, The Athletic reported Thursday.
Also on Thursday, Donald Trump Jr. posted a photo of his father edited to look like he’s dropping a green dildo from the White House roof onto a group of what appeared to be AI-generated women’s basketball players.
The group has also claimed credit for viral images of green dildos on Wall Street and at an MLB game.
Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was the latest WNBA figure to say she was fed up with the dildo barrage. “It’s not funny,” she said Thursday. “And it should not be the butt of jokes on any radio shows, or in print, or in any comments. The sexualization of women’s what used to hold women down, and this is no different.
“And these people that are doing this should be held accountable, and we’re not the butt of the joke. They’re the problem. And we need to take action.”
Betting on the dildos, including when they would be thrown and what color they would be, has taken off on crypto-driven prediction market Polymarket. Though technically banned in the U.S., some users have seen big returns from their bets, which has raised concerns that some of the dildo-throwers might be betting on the incidents. Polymarket posted Wednesday that the league had changed its bag policy ahead of the Golden State Valkyries game that night, but the team told FOS that was untrue.
— Colin Salao and Annie Costabile contributed reporting from WNBA arenas in Chicago and New York.
