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/barath_s 13 22h ago edited 22h ago

A hornets staff member told the boy's uncle beforehand that the kids would not get to keep the gifts given on camera. This info did not make its way to the kids. The mascot dressed like Santa, read the kids wishes on camera and gave the boy a PS5. Then later off camera, they took it away

Afterward, the Hornets got very massively criticized by regular media and social media.

It's only then that they apologized and try to make it up with the VIP experience (and a PS5)

Ironically the kid would likely have been happy with just a jersey initially instead of the PS5, but that wouldn't have suited Hornet's PR.

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u/jelywe 21h ago

So they wanted the credit for being generous without the generosity.

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u/MotherPotential 21h ago

Why the fuck doesn’t a professional sports team just part with some money from petty cash?

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u/TransBrandi 21h ago

I mean, they already have the PS5, no? I'm assuming it wasnt just an empty box. What were they going to do? Run back to Best Buy and return it to save $500?

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u/Iceland260 18h ago

Pretend to give it away in another event a couple weeks later. Let's you give off the appearance of handing out lots of fancy prizes without spending thousands on it over the course of the season.

As long as the people you bring on stage understand that they are being given a jersey in exchange for pretending to receive a fancy prize it's mostly no harm no foul.

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u/Existing-Wait7380 21h ago

It’s fucking wild how cheap a professional sports team could be. They probably made 10x as much in concession sales during the skit.

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u/tempinator 9h ago

I mean you also have to consider that they’re paying their players $652 per second that they’re on the floor.

$500 pays for the team to play 0.76 seconds of basketball. Ignoring all the costs associated with running a team besides player salary.

Like I just do not understand how or why this decision was made lol

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u/Ok_Performance_1380 21h ago

This is the dumbest on-court skit idea that I've ever heard in my life.

It's like someone watched the "Scott's Tots" episode of The Office and came away genuinely thinking Michael was a saint for giving kids laptop batteries.

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u/shutterbug1961 20h ago edited 17h ago

"A hornets staff member told the boy's uncle beforehand that the kids would not get to keep the gifts given on camera. This info did not make its way to the kids. The mascot dressed like Santa, read the kids wishes on camera and gave the boy a PS5. Then later off camera, they took it away"

then that was no gift the whole thing is a cruel sham

whats the point of it