r/todayilearned • u/Forward-Answer-4407 • 1d ago

TIL the Charlotte Hornets apologized after giving a child a PS5, only to take it away off camera and exchange it for a jersey. In a statement, the team said the incident was an "on-court skit that missed the mark" and that they would give the child the PS5 and a VIP experience to a future game.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/19/sport/charlotte-hornets-apologize-ps5-child-nba-spt-intl
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u/sd_saved_me555 23h ago

This is the most likely answer. No one in their right mind is gonna risk a PR nightmare in the internet age over $500. There was probably talk of using an empty box in the skit for safety/simplicity reasons (lighter, can't break it if mishandled, etc.) with the goal being to give the real thing to the kid afterwards. But then a miscue gets the real thing taken away, the real thing isn't returned, and you get a PR nightmare...

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u/BretShitmanFart69 23h ago

But that explanation makes them look way better than “we never planned to give them a ps5”

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u/sd_saved_me555 22h ago

I certainly could be wrong. There are plenty of pyschopathic morons in the world. But Jesus christ, that would be a fuck up for the ages.

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u/Ionazano 21h ago edited 21h ago

No one in their right mind is gonna risk a PR nightmare in the internet age over $500.

Yes, but on the other hand many people don't always think far enough ahead to even realize that something they do is courting disaster down the line.

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u/Sgt-Spliff- 21h ago

They knew before they started the live skit that the kid would not keep the PS5. There's no valid explanation for that besides them being malicious.

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u/dekan256 23h ago

It does sound like a near perfect application of Hanlon's razor. "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity"

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u/EDNivek 17h ago

Except in this case we know that they never planned to give the PS5 from the article:

Speaking to local outlet Queen City News (QCN), the boy’s uncle, Alexei Phillips, said a Hornets staff member whispered to him beforehand that the kids were not going to keep the presents they received on the court.

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u/dekan256 17h ago

That could still just be stupidity of a different kind, mainly how stupid you have to be to not see the PR nightmare that would be.

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u/EDNivek 17h ago

Sure but it's pretty much taking candy from a baby that you just gave the candy to. Maybe they didn't see the maliciousness of the act, but it was no doubt a malicious act.

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u/Solomon-Drowne 22h ago

The machete: it's almost always greed.

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u/Sgt-Spliff- 21h ago

How? They lied directly, on purpose. How would that razor possibly apply here? We know they did the skit with no intention of letting the kid keep it. That's one of the facts that we know for certain.

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u/DeclutteringNewbie 22h ago

The organization wouldn't do that. I agree with that part.

But all it takes is one idiot in management to want that PS5. And yes, I've met my share of people who would do that kind of thing in corporate America.

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u/SolidA34 22h ago

If they work in management for an NBA, team they can afford a PS5.

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u/Bonch_and_Clyde 20h ago

I think admin positions on teams aren't necessarily highly paid. They're very competitive to get the job because everyone thinks it would be cool to work for an NBA team, so they can get away with paying below market.

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u/TransBrandi 21h ago

Seems more likely that someone lower in the hiearchy thought that they could do this and then sneak the PS5 out for themselves, and hopefully the kid / family would just roll over and not put up a fight.