The WNBA still has a man problem
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
WNBA sex toy incidents may be linked to cryptocurrency group’s money scheme
Three sex toys have been thrown onto WNBA courts since July 29. One of the objects landed on the floor of a Los Angeles Sparks-Indiana Fever game on Tuesday night. A group of people during an audio livestream on X reveled in the moment and celebrated its potential to help boost the value of a particular memecoin. Donald Trump Jr. shared a meme that pictured his father, President Donald J. Trump, throwing a sex toy off the roof of the White House onto a court of women’s basketball players. “This is empowering to every f—ing crypto community to start thinking outside the box,” one user speaking on an X stream called the attention created by the WNBA disruptions and the resulting chatter “next level.” “These people that are doing this should be held accountable. We’re not the butt of the joke, they’re the problem,’’ another user said on the stream, referring to the sex toys at WNBA arenas.
Simultaneously, a group of people during an audio livestream on X reveled in the moment and celebrated its potential to help boost the value of a particular memecoin, a cryptocurrency deriving from an internet meme but traded through very real markets online. The coin was created July 28, the day before the first occurrence of a sex toy being thrown on a WNBA court. As of Thursday, the coin’s worth had nearly tripled in its first week.
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“Someone is tweeting that there’s one at the Sparks game,” one person said on the stream.
“That is literally the best case scenario that we could possibly imagine,” another replied, because the sex toy had fallen near Cunningham, who had previously posted a plea for spectators not to throw the objects onto the court, which was met with numerous replies of memes involving the phallic object.
The disruption in Los Angeles — as well as others that occurred that evening — appeared to be part of a coordinated effort, borne out of conversations held in some particularly murky, often mysterious corners of internet culture, social media and opportunistic plays in the cryptocurrency markets.
Like many things on the internet, users speaking about the disruptions have often shielded their identities through pseudonyms even as they interact in open forums on X and on the messaging platform Telegram. And the memecoin itself appeared to be one in a long line of novelty digital assets originating from a meme, part of an odd intersection of jokes that turn a gag into something users try to spin into play for money, like Dogecoin or Shiba Inu coin.
One user speaking on an X stream called the attention created by the WNBA disruptions and the resulting chatter “next level.”
“This is empowering to every f—ing crypto community to start thinking outside the box. Get creative and f—ing do something that makes people actually laugh. Memecoins should make you laugh,” he said, adding, “The whole mission with this was focus on making an impact in crypto culture.”
It appears the WNBA and its athletes are central to the joke in spite of their objections. And the conversation about the disruptions has created opportunities for detractors of women’s basketball to mock the league and women’s sports more generally.
“The sexualization of women is what’s used to hold women down, and this is no different,” Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. “These people that are doing this should be held accountable. We’re not the butt of the joke, they’re the problem.”
From @TheAthletic: Making a sex toy the focal point of games in a league that has perhaps the most openly gay and queer players doesn’t seem like an accident, our columnist writes. These recent incidents are another attempt to demean women in sports.https://t.co/cByhwJ5esh pic.twitter.com/vpYMjlYP6E — The New York Times (@nytimes) August 7, 2025
On Thursday, Donald Trump Jr. shared a meme that pictured his father, President Donald J. Trump, throwing a sex toy off the roof of the White House onto a court of women’s basketball players. “Posted without further comment,” the younger Trump said, adding three crying laughing emojis.
Beginning on July 29, three neon green sex toys have been thrown onto WNBA courts. An X video from Tuesday night’s New York Liberty game shows a similar object confiscated in the stands. A Liberty spokesperson said an investigation was happening and the team was cooperating with law enforcement.
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Other social media users claimed there was an attempt to throw a sex toy at a Phoenix Mercury game being played at the same time of the Sparks’ contest.
During Tuesday’s livestream, there was also talk of someone throwing another toy at the Seattle Storm’s Climate Pledge Arena during Tuesday’s game against the Minnesota Lynx, though no incident occurred, a Storm spokesperson confirmed to The Athletic.
The conversations appeared to connect to the community for a crypto memecoin called Green Dildo Coin. On Tuesday night’s livestream, members said they had been communicating with people throwing sex toys at WNBA arenas.
“I just got confirmation L.A. is out of the building,” one member of the stream said around seven minutes after the sex toy landed on the court at the Sparks game, indicating that the person who threw it had fled without being apprehended.
“There are community members out there putting their f—ing lives on the line, so the least you can do is retweet,” the same member said as the act was beginning to go viral on social media.
“The potential tosser (in Seattle), if you will, lost his phone in Lake Washington, so I had to reach out to a friend who was able to get me in contact, and he’s all set now,” another member of the stream said of the potential incident at Tuesday’s Storm game.
A league source told The Athletic that the WNBA is aware of the Green Dildo Coin’s recent X stream.
“Upon our request for an update, the league advised the players’ union that it was investigating claims that individuals were being incentivized to carry out these, unsafe stunts,” Terri Jackson, the executive director of the players’ union, said in a statement.
Last week, a 23-year-old Georgia man was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, public indecency/indecent exposure and criminal trespass, according to Clayton County’s court system, days after the first of these incidents.
Some messages shared on the stream and in the memecoin’s Telegram chat suggested that those directly involved in the community were not aware of Delbert Carver before his arrest.
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“Obviously, that was not anybody in the community,” said one member on Tuesday’s stream. “I didn’t want to give it any credit, but I was kind of thinking we could go and pay that guy’s bail, and just say, like you know what, we support green dildo throwers.”
Still, members were alerted to watch the Atlanta Dream-Golden State Valkyries game on July 29, generating anticipation and plenty of jokes. One Telegram message at tipoff said, “Dildo warrior practicing his throw!” with a brief video of a person repeating short tosses of a sex toy inside a home.
The WNBA said in a statement Saturday that anyone throwing an object onto the court would be immediately ejected, is subject to a one-year ban and could face arrest and prosecution by local authorities.
“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 league said.
An 18-year-old man, Kaden Lopez, was also arrested while at Tuesday’s Mercury game after police said he threw a sex toy toward the seats in front of him, hitting a man and his 9-year-old niece. Sergeant Phil Krynsky, a spokesperson for the Phoenix Police Department, confirmed Lopez’s arrest in a statement.
The identities of those who originated Green Dildo Coin are unclear, though the domain of the memecoin’s website was registered on July 19, according to Who.Is, an internet domain lookup service. Memecoins, according to Christian Grewell, an expert on blockchain and cryptocurrency technology at New York University, “cost almost nothing to make, essentially they’re free, but they can generate millions in profits within days.”
The community also has an online storefront that sells apparel related to the sex toy and the memecoin. It was registered on July 7, close to two weeks before the first sex toy was thrown onto a WNBA court.
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Green Dildo Coin launched its account on X on July 28. Its apparent founder, who uses the name Lt. Daldo Raine, voiced a nearly 15-minute speech spoofing the opening speech of Brad Pitt’s character, Lt. Aldo Raine, in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds,” to explain the purpose of the memecoin. The WNBA is not explicitly mentioned in the opening comments, but Raine said that “evidence of our cruelty” would be found in the “giant green, aggressive, and erect candles we leave behind.”
In multiple livestreams reviewed by The Athletic, members routinely voiced crude humor about the WNBA. Jokes were made about WNBA viewership, and memes circulated in the group’s Telegram often superimposed the sex toy into the hands of WNBA players.
Three moderators of the Telegram group and the official account on X for the coin did not provide comment, though the moderators said they would forward The Athletic’s request to answer questions about the streams and the chats.
The disruptions appeared to change the trading prices of $DILDO. According to the coingecko cryptocurrency website, it had a trading volume of more than $1.5 million between Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. Polymarket, a cryptocurrency-based prediction model, also took bets on whether disruptions would occur. The site reported that it took in more than $180,000 in volume on whether a sex toy would be thrown at a game by Aug. 10. Users of the platform could also speculate on when another sex toy might hit the court.
“The dildo-throwing incidents were essentially an excuse for bad actors to hijack existing negativity and convert it into attention,” Grewell said in an email.
Raine, the spokesperson of the group, told USA Today that the WNBA disruptions were likely done but that the pranks would continue. A photo on Telegram and elsewhere online showed a spectator holding a green sex toy at Wednesday night’s Miami Marlins game.
“If we’re too disruptive for too long, people will get pissed off,” a member said Tuesday on stream. “The bigger events, we gotta find creative ways to like trick the cameras onto us and then, f—ing bingo.”
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On July 31, Raine in the chat asked members to let him know if “you know people or have resources to make these happen,” with a list of 12 of the 13 WNBA cities, plus upcoming high-profile comedy tours, concerts, and the U.S. Open tennis major beginning later this month in New York.
WNBA players and coaches have voiced their displeasure with the incidents and asked for consideration of player safety.
After the second incident, which occurred in Chicago last Friday, Sky center Elizabeth Williams said it was “super disrespectful” and “really immature.”
“It’s ridiculous, it’s dumb, it’s stupid,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said.
The Athletic‘s Matt Moret contributed to this report.
(Photo of Sophie Cunningham: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)
‘I’m sitting behind the bench’: Inside sports’ escalating stalking problem
Latyr Thiaw, a 19-year-old maintenance worker, stalked UCLA women’s basketball player Kiki Rice. He flew to Los Angeles, rented a U-Haul van, parking near the UCLA campus for days and sleeping in the back. He was arrested and charged in Los Angeles Superior Court with stalking and two counts of resisting a police officer. The Athletic identified at least 52 stalking cases involving athletes, male and female, since 2020, but that list is incomplete. More American athletes and other celebrities have been stalked and attacked in the last decade than in all previous U.S. history, said Dr. Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist and one of the first to study the stalking of public figures. The trend line that Dietz spoke of has continued to spike in recent years, she said, with many stalking cases going unreported in the media and even to police. The number of male victims is increasing, too, including former Los Angeles Rams star Aaron Donald; a woman has harassed him and his family for years.
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In the months that followed, Thiaw sent Rice dozens of unanswered messages on social media, and he changed the background screen on his phone to a picture of her.
Then, in mid-December 2023, Thiaw flew to Los Angeles, rented a U-Haul van, parking near the UCLA campus for days and sleeping in the back.
On several occasions, Thiaw stood outside of UCLA’s practice facility waiting for Rice. Once, he sat on a bench for hours alongside a glass vase of white and red roses and a handwritten card that read, “Kiki Carroll Rice once upon a time you caught my sight through a life full of strife…you got me through the night…I want do something kosmik with you that will be enough till the end of time.”
On Dec. 21, as Rice warmed up for the UCLA/Hawaii game in Pauley Pavilion, she felt eyes on her. It was Thiaw — in the second row, standing up, wearing a suit, and staring intently at her. Soon after, UCLA banned Thiaw from all its facilities and events, and the athletic department posted a flyer with a photograph of Thiaw that read, “Please do not engage with this individual or allow entry into any athletic facility.”
Despite the ban, Thiaw attempted to attend another UCLA game by entering through the student-only section and, according to a police report, he pushed past security in an attempt to make contact with Rice. He was arrested and charged in Los Angeles Superior Court with stalking and two counts of resisting a police officer.
He pleaded not guilty to those three charges, but his behavior continued.
“I do not know Latyr, I do not have any relationship with him, and his incessant efforts to track me down and confront me cause me to worry for my safety and are deeply disturbing,” Rice stated in her request for a restraining order in January 2024. “I have no protection when I am off campus or at away games.”
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More American athletes and other celebrities have been stalked and attacked in the last decade than in all previous U.S. history, said Dr. Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist and one of the first to study the stalking of public figures.
Dietz made that proclamation in 1994, the year after tennis player Monica Seles was stabbed during a match by a fan obsessed with her opponent, Steffi Graf. More than 30 years later, the trend line Dietz spoke of has continued to spike.
“I do know with certainty that new media have increased dramatically the number of threats and stalking incidents” of athletes and celebrities, particularly women, Dietz told The Athletic.
There are currently no scientific studies around the stalking of athletes, and no law enforcement agency is publicly tracking such cases. The Athletic identified at least 52 stalking cases involving athletes, male and female, since 2020, but that list is incomplete. Many stalking cases go unreported in the media and even to police.
But even a partial list indicates an alarming pattern.
Female tennis players Iga Świątek, Yulia Putintseva and Emma Raducanu dealt with stalking incidents this year. Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers and other women’s basketball players were subjected to stalking that led them to fear for their safety. Gymnasts Simone Biles and Livvy Dunne have been targeted, as has track athlete Gabby Thomas; American hurdler and bobsledder Lolo Jones had someone break into her training facility and attempt to do the same at her home, one of three men she said have stalked her in recent years.
Among the male victims are former Los Angeles Rams star Aaron Donald; a woman has harassed and stalked him and his family for years. Another former NFL player, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, was stalked by a woman with a “bizarre and extreme obsession,” according to a restraining order application. She changed her last name to his and used it to access the gated community where his family lives. A woman nicknamed “devil baby” pleaded guilty to stalking then-Chelsea players Mason Mount and Billy Gilmour.
Stalking has become part of the sports landscape: Matches are being interrupted, players are acknowledging that fixated strangers are impacting their mental health and performance, leagues and colleges are directing more money and resources toward security. On social media, athletes share stories, ask for advice, connect and commiserate. Consider what Rice said in March about her ordeal:
“It’s unfortunate that a lot of us players have to go through that. … I think just knowing that as the sport continues to have a bigger platform and is broadcasted on a higher level, those instances are gonna increase.”
That Thiaw’s fixation with Rice began after he saw her on social media is consistent with many stalking incidents. As athletes chronicle their careers and lives, often to promote their sport, they increase the odds that someone will become dangerously obsessed with them.
A string of strange posts and comments on Facebook and TikTok was one of the first indicators that 40-year-old Robert Cole Parmalee, a resident of Grants Pass, Ore., had become fixated on Bueckers, then a University of Connecticut senior.
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On social media, Parmalee professed his love for Bueckers and his desire to marry her. One TikTok caption read: “And if I cannot live with a woman of my choosing, (Paige), then I will choose to die, and I will choose to take all of you that pose me, oppose us, to hell, and return, king…I love you (Paige), if you allow them to touch you, you allow them to die.” Online fan accounts began tagging Bueckers in an attempt to warn her.
In August 2024, Parmalee was arrested by Connecticut State Police while walking alongside a highway on an unrelated warrant out of Oregon. Prior to his arrest, he posted on social media that he was coming to propose to Bueckers.
Bueckers told UConn police she felt “the need to look over her shoulder more often in large groups” and “worried about the safety of herself as well as her family members and basketball teammates.”
In September, Parmalee was rearrested and charged with breach of peace, electronic stalking, and harassment. In December, he pleaded guilty to a stalking charge and received a one-year suspended sentence and three years of probation, during which time he is barred from Connecticut and any arenas, hotels and practice facilities where the UConn women’s basketball team is present. The WNBA also barred him from all arenas and practice facilities.
A protective order is in place until Jan. 4, 2064.
This January, a 55-year-old Texas man, Michael Lewis, was arrested and charged with stalking Clark, the Indiana Fever star. Lewis sent a series of sexually violent messages and threats to Clark via social media before he drove 13 hours to Indianapolis with the “intent to be in close proximity” to her.
“Been driving around your house 3x a day,” one message read, according to court documents. “But don’t call the law just yet.”
“I’m getting tickets. I’m sitting behind the bench,” read another. An implicit or explicit threat was also made “with the intent to place Caitlin Clark in reasonable fear of sexual battery,” prosecutors wrote in the Marion County Superior Court filing.
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Clark told police she feared for her safety and had even begun to alter her appearance in public.
In late July, Lewis was sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison after pleading guilty to stalking and harassing Clark. There is currently a no-contact order in place, and Lewis is banned from Gainbridge Fieldhouse, where the Fever play home games, and Hinkle Fieldhouse, the team’s former arena.
“No matter how prominent a figure you are, this case shows that online harassment can quickly escalate to actual threats of physical violence,” Marion County prosecutor Ryan Mears said in a statement. “It takes a lot of courage for women to come forward in these cases, which is why many don’t.”
Women’s basketball has had to quickly adapt as the sport’s surging popularity has increased the risk to its players. The University of Iowa, Clark’s alma mater, beefed up security for women’s basketball home games from 2022 to 2024 as Clark rose to become the most popular women’s player in history. During Clark’s sophomore season, security expenditures for women’s basketball home games reached $153,780. During Clark’s final season, it was $466,169, according to public records.
In 2023, the NCAA hired an outside firm to track social media interactions directed at coaches, referees and players.
“If the vendor who’s running this program sees really nasty stuff coming at somebody, we notify the platforms,” NCAA president Charlie Baker said in March. “And the platforms, generally speaking, will block those people and take them down.” In some cases, the NCAA has forwarded communications to law enforcement for follow-up.
But there are more than 90,000 female college athletes just at the Division I level, spread across 365 schools. It is impossible to institute all-encompassing protective measures across such a vast landscape.
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How, for example, could the University of Colorado have prevented a then 43-year-old man from downloading images of some of its female cross-country runners and combining them with pornographic images, and then messaging those runners about how he was stalking them and planning to rape, torture and kill them? (That ordeal, which occurred in 2015-16, led to the man being sentenced to more than 14 years in federal prison.)
After swarms of young men with posters and a full-sized cutout of Livvy Dunne disrupted LSU’s gymnastics season opener in 2023 at the University of Utah, LSU amped up its security at away meets, which included creating a perimeter when the team boarded its bus. But Dunne is also among several female athletes who recently spoke about men finding out their flight information and then aggressively accosting them at various airports.
You can’t create a perimeter around someone’s entire life.
Women’s tennis and golf are perhaps the professional sports that have grappled with this issue the longest. While the tennis cases — involving Seles, Serena Williams, Anna Kournikova and others — have been well chronicled, golf’s struggles with fixated individuals have been less spotlighted.
Among the incidents reported: A former caddie for Michelle McGann sent over 30 packages professing his love for her. Once, at Michelle Wie’s sunrise practice session, security spotted a man in a powder blue suit and floppy hat who had taken a bus from Iowa to Portland to propose to the golfer. And, a man tried to break into Morgan Pressel’s gated community in Boca Raton, Fla., after claiming Jack Nicklaus and the CIA had instructed him to speak with her.
Historically, the LPGA has assigned plainclothes police officers to specific players, but more recently the organization has used specialized security firms, often run by former U.S. Secret Service agents.
It’s not uncommon for photos of individuals of interest to be posted at all tournament entry gates and security officials look for red flags: aggression in the autograph area, requests for an athlete’s used clothing and attempts to take up-skirt photos, according to Scott Stewart, who works for TorchStone Global, an international risk mitigation firm used by the LPGA and other sports leagues.
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“Golf is different than the other sports because spectators have access to players before, during and after we play,” said Rick Pano, father and caddie of LPGA player Alexa Pano. “The NFL, Major League Baseball, you have distance, but in golf you don’t.”
About five years ago, a red button was added to the LPGA Player Portal, a digital hub for all tournament details. One press of the button, and security is immediately deployed to the player’s location.
After Seles, the WTA posted security guards on courts at events. Security tightened even further in 2008 when the league announced players, parents, agents, coaches and other entourage members must agree to criminal background checks for full tournament access. And in 2024, the WTA set up a monitoring service for social media threats. Just this March, Świątek was given extra security protection during the Miami Open after being verbally attacked at practice by a man who had harassed her on social media.
The WNBA has also amplified and modernized its security protocols. Not long after the Clark and Bueckers incidents, the league assembled an offseason task force, which includes monitoring of social media to detect threats and added security measures at the league and team levels. Other leagues and organizations have taken similar steps.
Even though all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the federal government have had anti-stalking laws in place since the mid-1990s, most statutes designed to address and prohibit stalking are toothless, and prosecution of the crime falls almost entirely on the victim.
“Restraining and protective orders become sort of your first line of defense,” said Carlos Cuevas, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Northeastern University. “But one of the difficulties is that the burden of protection is so much on the victim. They have to report it, they have to get the restraining order, it’s temporary. They have to go in there and go back and make it permanent. And then in most states or most places, that needs to get renewed every year, so there’s a lot of, sort of, labor, if you will, that the victim has to engage in to protect themselves.”
Legal documents such as protective orders are often only a paper shield. Forty to 50 percent of protective orders are violated, according to the Stalking Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center. Some studies even found there was an increase in physical or psychological abuse after an order was granted.
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“The criminal penalties for stalking are oftentimes not that severe,” said Dr. J. Reid Meloy, a forensic psychologist who consults on public figure stalking cases. “Then they’re back in action, and we know that … repetition, reoffense is very high.”
For Rice, the temporary restraining order granted by the court in January had little effect. The summer of 2024 was filled with messages from Thiaw, in direct violation of the order.
“THEY ARE TRYING TO TELL ME THAT I DO NOT HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO LOVE KIRA KIKI CARROLL RICE,” reads a portion of an email sent to Rice’s email address in June.
“THE DAY I GOT ARRESTED I SAID THIS STORY WILL BE TOLD AT THE DINING TABLE AT OUR WEDDING, AND TO OUR CHILDREN,” reads one from July.
On Oct. 17, 2024, the court issued a more permanent, five-year restraining order against Thiaw. At the trial, Thiaw testified, “I would like to be your husband one day. And I’m not some love bird. I have already thought of strategies on how to be your dedicated husband.”
In the weeks since then, Thiaw, who is now 22, has filed a series of motion papers in an effort to terminate the restraining order, citing “no credible evidence.”
In an email, Thiaw wrote to The Athletic: “My entire ordeal began with a rightful ticket — one I obtained legally. That act was distorted by false statements and misrepresentations in a police report designed to criminalize me without cause.”
In June, he successfully completed a mental health diversion program, after which the criminal case against him was dismissed. (The civil restraining order case is independent from the criminal matter.)
This month, Rice had to submit an additional plea to the court for the continuance of the restraining order against Thiaw.
In opposition to Thiaw’s request to remove the restraining order, Rice submitted the following declaration: “Latyr’s relentless stalking and harassment caused me significant emotional distress. … I have just started to be able to live my life again without the constant worry of Latyr disturbing my peace. … I am forced to relive the stress I experienced over the last two years which has triggered a fear that my peace will be greatly disturbed knowing that he could contact me at any time or appear wherever I may be.”
Just last week, the court denied Thiaw’s request, and the restraining order will remain in place until October 2029.
Athletes who have been stalked talk about the lasting impact it has on their lives. (Many choose not to speak about it at all due to fear of copycats, or a refusal to give their stalkers more power or notoriety.)
After her stabbing, Seles was out of tennis for nearly 28 months. She fell into a deep depression and developed an eating disorder. “And yes, the physical scars healed in a few months. But the emotional damage cut much deeper and I was plunged into a fog of darkness and depression that I couldn’t see my way out of,” Seles wrote of the attack in her 2009 autobiography.
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Eleven years after a man tried to abduct her with duct tape, two loaded guns and a wooden club, Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson told ABC in 2019 that the experience still haunts her.
After her three-year ordeal with a stalker, Olympic runner Emily Infeld remains careful with what she posts on social media, no longer receives mail at her condo, and still keeps a metal bar by the front door.
The fear among women’s sports activists is that any behavioral changes female athletes make could stymie the momentum women’s sports has built in recent years.
“There’s a long history of when women’s sport becomes popular, visible, lucrative, that we see a plethora of ways in which women’s value, popularity, and visibility is undermined, marginalized, silenced and erased,” said Nicole LaVoi, director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport. “I think harassment and stalking is one exemplar of that.”
— The Athletic’s Gabby Herzig contributed to this report.
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photos: Sarah Stier / Getty Images, iStock)
We should be talking about Antoine Semenyo’s football. But football still has a racism problem
Bournemouth came from two goals down to beat Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield. Antoine Semenyo was subjected to alleged racial abuse from a member of the home support in the first half. The 25-year-old called over referee Anthony Taylor after the incident. The game was halted in the 29th minute as both managers, the respective captains and the rest of the players were informed. Bournemouth captain Adam Smith: “I don’t know how Ant has played on to be honest, and come up with those goals. It’s totally unacceptable. I just feel sorry for Ant’… something needs to be done.” Semeny: ‘He was calm. He continued playing. We asked him, he was fine to continue. He looked composed. He was still, at the end of the game, but the head always goes to these things, and he’s asking why it still is happening today, and it’s a big shame’
We should be talking about Antoine Semenyo’s brilliance and focusing on the two superbly taken goals that brought Bournemouth level from two goals down at Anfield to scare the reigning champions, Liverpool — and only that.
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Instead, Semenyo’s second-half performance requires a bleaker context. During the first half of the game, as he prepared to take a throw-in, he was subjected to alleged racial abuse from a member of the home support.
Minutes later, as Liverpool prepared to take a corner, the 25-year-old called over referee Anthony Taylor. The game was halted in the 29th minute as both managers, the respective captains and the rest of the players were informed.
It was an immediate reminder that some issues simply refuse to go away, that football is too regularly overshadowed by the actions of a few. And this time, it was less than 30 minutes into a new season.
“It’s totally unacceptable. I’m sort of in shock, to be honest. It shouldn’t be happening in this day and age,” Bournemouth captain Adam Smith told Sky Sports following the game.
“I don’t know how Ant has played on to be honest, and come up with those goals. It’s totally unacceptable. I just feel sorry for Ant. He’s a bit down, obviously, and to carry on playing… something needs to be done.
Andoni Iraola embracing Antoine Semenyo after full time (Robin Jones/AFC Bournemouth via Getty Images)
“To be honest, I wanted him to react. That’s what I would have done. I would have gone straight over there. But this shows what type of man he is: not to react when it happened, to carry on, then he reported it to the ref. To come up with those goals shows what type of guy he is and what character he has. Fair play to Ant.”
Semenyo had been asked if he wanted to continue, and he did. When a different reaction would have been completely understandable, he remained calm and composed. He channelled his emotions, producing an individual performance that did the talking for him.
“In the heat of the moment, Antoine understood the situation,” Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola told reporters. “He was calm. He continued playing. We asked him, he was fine to continue. He looked composed.
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“But now, at the end of the game, he was still… not on purpose, but the head always goes to these things, and he’s asking why it still is happening today, and it’s a big shame.
“We have to continue reinforcing the messages. It’s a big shame because in the end, most of the news will be about this thing. And they have to be about the thing because obviously that still is a big problem, not just in football, but overall.”
Semenyo had other ideas. He refused to let one idiot dictate the story. Instead, he took control on the pitch.
He had already caused former team-mate and new Liverpool left-back Milos Kerkez problems in the first half, but as impressive as that was, he went to another level in the second half.
The forward was more alert than substitute Andrew Robertson when Dominik Szoboszlai was dispossessed when attempting an audacious flick. It meant that when David Brooks was released in behind the defence, Semenyo had the positional advantage over his opponent, and he wasn’t going to relinquish it.
He charged into the penalty area, timing his dart perfectly to meet Brooks’ low cross, beating Virgil van Dijk in the process. His shot was too powerful for Alisson.
When he received the ball just outside his own area on 77 minutes, he led the counter-attack as Bournemouth outnumbered Liverpool four-to-two.
He ran and ran. Those chasing him could not catch him. Those ahead of him backed off, reluctant to engage. He had options, but he didn’t need them. As he got to the Liverpool box, he cut inside and then fired a shot past Alisson, who didn’t move. Ibrahima Konate was left on the floor. Semenyo had wheeled off in celebration.
“Antoine has started the season the same way he finished the last one,” said Iraola. “He was creating a lot of problems for the full-backs. Different goals. The first goal was a combination through the left, and he arrives well. The second one is transition, but the more he takes it himself, and it is a good finish.”
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Liverpool head coach Arne Slot repeated the message, labelling what happened as “unacceptable”. He was shown speaking to Semenyo at full time, and several Liverpool players did too, following the incident, including Cody Gakpo and captain Van Dijk.
Semenyo posted a story on his Instagram account after the game with a caption of, ‘When will it stop’, alongside an example of racist abuse he had received under one of his recent posts on the platform.
It was the definition of resilience. His response in the circumstances deserves huge credit — but there should be nothing to respond to. The mere fact that he kept playing was inspiring, deserving credit and respect, never mind producing what he then did.
Racism has no place in football; it has no place in society, but it is another example that demonstrates how the methods to combat it are not working. This week, Tottenham Hotspur forward Mathys Tel was subjected to racist abuse following his penalty miss in the UEFA Super Cup.
Semenyo scores his second goal on Friday night (Michael Steele/Getty Images)
England defender Jess Carter also spoke out publicly after receiving abuse during the recent 2025 European Championship, leading to her stepping back from social media.
Speaking before Friday night’s game, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said the league was doing “everything it possibly can” to combat racist abuse online.
The Lionesses collectively decided to stop taking the knee — a symbolic anti-racism gesture — as they felt it was “clear we and football need to find another way to tackle racism”.
Smith shared a similar feeling that the gesture has lost the power of its initial intention and meaning.
“Taking a knee is not having an effect,” he said. “We’re supporting him (Semenyo) in there (the dressing room) and hopefully he’ll be okay.”
“We’ve had discussions with the Premier League about it, so they have been taking it seriously. But I was just speaking to some of the lads in there, and I just don’t know what we can do. We’ve been doing it for a long time now, and no one’s getting it. I don’t know what to say any more. I just feel sorry for Ant that he’s had to take that tonight, and the whole country is watching. For that to happen is shocking.”
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The problem is, what that “something different” is, is unclear. Something has to be done, but no one seems to have the answer. That’s the ugly reality.
Semenyo, of course, did muster his own response — one of defiance.
(Top photo: Semenyo celebrates his equaliser with Marcus Tavernier; Robin Jones/AFC Bournemouth via Getty Images)
Gilbert Arenas Offers Creative Solution To WNBA Pay Problem: “Stop Asking For Revenue Split…. Let The Billionaires’ Egos Kick In.”
Gilbert Arenas Offers Creative Solution To WNBA Pay Problem: “Stop Asking For Revenue Split…. Let The Billionaires’ Egos Kick In” WNBA players believe that they are not getting an adequate share of the league’s revenue, even though it has never reported a profit since its inception. Arenas offered an alternative solution that could fast-track the process of getting WNBA player paid, and in his opinion, it makes a lot of sense. The WNBA is in their Magic Johnson and Larry Bird phase at the moment and how to solve the pay problem presently. The league could see its first $1 billion franchise valuation with the New York Liberty with the first $300 million TV rights deal in the next decade, according to reports. It’s not the women’s problem. They’re playing the game. They have a buzz. They want to get paid for doing their job. “If Vegas can get their private plane, let them. All the girls start talking… And what happens is everybody wants to travel there.”
One of the biggest problems for a woman to pursue a basketball career in the United States is that the job is not as lucrative as it is for men to aim for that profession. Current WNBA players believe that they are not getting an adequate share of the league’s revenue, even though it has never reported a profit since its inception.
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Gilbert Arenas, the former NBA player, believes he has a potential solution to this problem for the WNBA players. On Joy Taylor’s most recent podcast episode, Arenas and Taylor discussed how the WNBA is in their Magic Johnson and Larry Bird phase at the moment and how to solve the pay problem presently.
“I think the problem here is this. Stop asking for a revenue split. [Say] I want real money. Take the cap off. Let our owner pay us what he wants to pay us. Here’s why.”
“Okay, so look, when you’re talking about a revenue split, it’s no different than business, right? We can split our revenue 50/50. Then what does the person who has the business do? Ah, there’s no profit. I’ve got all these bills to pay. So there’s no revenue.”
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“So that’s a pointless thing to do, right? Because they’re going to offset how much they lost. So they’re like, “Oh, you want revenues, but we lost $40 million, so how are we going to give you [when we have] no money?”
“What you want is to take off the hard cap. Let the billionaires’ egos kick in because one thing somebody with money doesn’t want to do is be on the same playing field with someone who’s brokered. So if I make 11 billion and he makes 500 million, I don’t want to be on the same playing field; this is business. I want to buy his players out.
“Yes. I want to be able, like if I owned a business, I wouldn’t be able to spend what I want to spend on my players. And if you can’t afford your players, I’m going to get them from you. And if you can’t afford them, go get a new investor. And that’s the model that they need to be following.”
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“If Vegas can get their private plane, let them. What happens? All the girls start talking… And what happens is everybody wants to travel there.”
“What ends up happening to the bottom half is that they go get new investors. Stop trying to be greedy. You want to own 100% of everything with f***ing 200 million. No. Go get someone who can invest, and you lose 75% of your business. You got 25. But that’s 11 billion, man right there. Let’s go.”
“Everybody wants to hold on to 100% of nothing. And that becomes a problem. That’s not the women’s problem. They’re playing the game. They have a buzz. They want to get paid for doing their job. “
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The justification usually given for a salary cap is that it leads to equitable gameplay and a fair chance for everyone to compete. But if the hard cap is handcuffing teams from paying their players, isn’t it time to break those shackles?
Analyzing Gilbert Arenas’ Potential Solution To The WNBA Pay Problem
Taylor argued that since the WNBA is not as old as the NBA, they are in that expansion phase where the men’s league was during the Magic Johnson vs Larry Bird era in the ’80s. But Arenas offered an alternative solution that could fast-track the process of getting WNBA players paid, and in my opinion, it makes a lot of sense.
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Taylor is not wrong to compare the WNBA’s current phase to where the NBA was over four decades ago. Moreover, they recently signed a major TV rights deal and saw a franchise valuation cross $300 million for the first time in the Connecticut Sun’s record-breaking sale.
Several sources also anticipate that by the next decade, midway through the 2030s, the WNBA could see its first $1 billion franchise valuation with the New York Liberty.
Seeing these optimistic updates for the league’s future, WNBA players felt that they had earned the right to ask for a bigger piece of the cake. Through a silent demonstration at the 2025 All-Star Game, they made their collective feelings public that they feel they are not paid what they are owed.
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But if the WNBA picks up the MLB model of doing business, then the league could become a lot more competitive and give players a solid livelihood so that they are not forced to go overseas to earn money like Diana Taurasi and several other WNBA players have been in the past.
Playing to a rich man’s ego is the easiest way to make money. Arenas’ solution would allow players to command more money now instead of waiting for decades to reach the NBA’s level conventionally.
Taking an unconventional route could be the only option here for the WNBA as the players face an October 31st deadline to come up with a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) or risk a total work stoppage.
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According to the current CBA, the WNBA players get only a 9.3% share of the league’s revenue. Since they have rejected the renewal of the same CBA, there will be extensive negotiations to come up with a new CBA.
Instead of demanding a bigger share of the revenue, if the players manage to convince the league to alter this structure and remove the hard cap, the WNBA’s pay problem could be resolved.
Related: Diana Taurasi: ‘Had To Go To A Communist Country To Earn Like A Capitalist… The F****ing Janitor Made More Than Me’
This story was originally reported by Fadeaway World on Aug 8, 2025, where it first appeared.
WNBA sex toy controversy explained: Why are they being thrown on court at games?
“We didn’t do this because like we’ve seen it in the past, or, like, some of the “how many of the “vital” and “how much” that is going to be a “vibrant” way to go for the first “vibus” to be the first to try to determine what the “magnus” will be. “This was supposed to be” “This is the way to test how much the “virus” of what to be, and this was “this was the way” to test it. “We’ve seen” how the “susceptors” will decide whether or not this is simply a more or less “vandalism” or a more “vulnerable” or “more vibratious” way of saying “this is just like” the way that the “trial” will begin. “I’m not sure” whether this is just “the” or “the” way that “this” is or how the and whether the “vorm” will be or “this is or” or the “how
While some incidents appear to be pranks, concerns about misogyny and targeted harassment of players are rising.
Players and coaches have expressed anger and frustration, calling the incidents disrespectful and immature.
Nobody knows when the next sex toy might come flying onto the court.
This is the lingering problem with the who-done-it the WNBA never wanted to have to solve but must for the sake of the the players. It’s a NSFW case with plenty of fallout for a league that is already dealing with CBA negotiations and possible shutdown alongside its growing popularity. What initially inspired mostly jokes and laughter has turned into claims of misogyny, conspiracy theories, multiple law enforcement investigations and, of course, sex toys being thrown onto or toward the court at as many as five WNBA games over the past 10 days.
There’s intrigue and confusion about the motives and what’s actually happening here. The unfortunate trend is generating a wide range of reaction from players and fans alike. Though there have already been two arrests made in the matter, it’s still unclear whether this is simply a viral prank popularized by social media or a more coordinated effort meant to target the WNBA and its players.
Here’s a breakdown of what to know about the WNBA’s escalating sex toy problem, including some potential answers to help sift through this mystery the league and its players want to end:
Why are sex toys being thrown on the court at WNBA games?
Cryptocurrency meme coin creators say they are responsible for the sex toys being thrown at multiple WNBA games, and they are planning more “pranks.”
A group of crypto enthusiasts and traders launched Green Dildo Coin (DILDO), a meme coin intended to be lighthearted and perceived as a joke, in late July to protest what they describe as a “toxic” environment in the crypto world. According to the group’s spokesman, who spoke exclusively to USA TODAY Sports, many smaller players in the space are struggling to keep up with the influx of influencers and scammers.
“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,” he said. “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.”
There have been two arrests made related to these incidents, but the crypto spokesman said those people were not associated with the group. Delbert Carver, 23, was arrested after throwing an object at a July 29 WNBA game in Atlanta and charged with disorderly conduct, public indecency/indecent exposure and criminal trespass. Carver told police, “This was supposed to be a joke, and this joke (was) supposed to go viral,” according to the arrest affidavit.
Kaden Lopez, the 18-year-old arrested this week after throwing a sex toy that hit a man watching the game with his 9-year-old niece in the crowd at a Phoenix Mercury game on Aug. 5, had a similar explanation. He called it a “stupid prank that was trending on social media.” He bought the sex toy the day before to take it to the game, according to court documents.
How many WNBA games have had sex toy incidents this season?
As of Aug. 7, there have been reports of a sex toy thrown in as many as six games since the initial incident occurred on July 29 during the fourth quarter of the Atlanta Dream’s 77-75 home loss to the Golden State Valkyries. A fan threw a green sex toy onto the court and caused a stoppage in play. An official kicked the sex toy off the court before it was removed by a police officer.
The second incident occurred at the Valkyries’ game against the Chicago Sky on Aug. 1 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. A similar sex toy was thrown near the baseline during the third quarter and forced officials to briefly stop play. There were then multiple confirmed incidents involving a similar sex toy being thrown at WNBA games on the same day including onto the cordoned off court after the game in Atlanta involving the Dream and Mystics.
A green sex toy was thrown on the court seemingly in the direction of guard Sophie Cunningham in the Indiana Fever’s road game against the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday, Aug. 5. Sparks star Kelsey Plum kicked the object off the playing surface. There was another fan caught on a social media video (and subsequently arrested) for throwing a green sex toy at the Phoenix Mercury’s home game against the Connecticut Sun on Aug. 5. There was also a social media video that went viral of a green sex toy that had landed in the crowd at the New York Liberty’s game against the Dallas Wings on Aug. 5.
Are WNBA players being targeted?
Maybe. It certainly can’t be ruled out at this point.
The most recent incident involving Cunningham could offer some proof. She had recently warned fans on social media to not throw the NSFW item because “you’re going to hurt one of us.” Days later, it appeared to be thrown toward her during the Fever-Sparks game on Aug. 5.
What are WNBA players, coaches saying?
At first, some players laughed if off. Now, they’re not happy. Here’s a sampling of comments about the situation:
Chicago Sky center Elizabeth Williams after the Aug. 1 incident: “It’s super disrespectful. I don’t really get the point of it. It’s really immature. Whoever is doing it needs to grow up.”
after the Aug. 1 incident: “It’s super disrespectful. I don’t really get the point of it. It’s really immature. Whoever is doing it needs to grow up.” Los Angeles Sparks coach Lynee Roberts after Aug. 5 incident: “It’s ridiculous. It’s dumb. It’s stupid. It’s also dangerous, and you know, player safety is No. 1, respecting the game, all those things.”
after Aug. 5 incident: “It’s ridiculous. It’s dumb. It’s stupid. It’s also dangerous, and you know, player safety is No. 1, respecting the game, all those things.” “I think you just have to continuously prioritize the players, because it’s obviously safety, but also just so immature to me, like, I just hate that that’s being attached to our brand and our name,” New York Liberty player Isabelle Harrison told The New York Post. “This is like, let’s be professional here. I get the jokes, and things can be funny, but it just gets to a point. So like, I’m just really over it, and I know other players are over it.”
told The New York Post. “This is like, let’s be professional here. I get the jokes, and things can be funny, but it just gets to a point. So like, I’m just really over it, and I know other players are over it.” “I would have picked that thing up and thrown it right back at them,” former Phoenix Mercury star Diana Taurasi told Front Office Sports.
Is the throwing of sex toys at WNBA games misogyny?
It sure seems that way based on the available evidence (and a calculated and blatant example of misogyny, too).
But don’t only take our word for it. Cosmopolitan and Glamour have both already weighed in on the case. Their verdict: misogyny.
Cosmopolitan: “There are people paying good money to attend a professional basketball game just to throw a (sex toy) at the players’ feet. Why? To send a message; to tell women that they don’t belong on the court and that their athleticism isn’t as valuable as their sexuality. This is misogyny, plain and simple. … They don’t care about what women deserve or how disgusting and violating their actions are. It’s time for NBA players to stand in solidarity with their female counterparts and call this behavior what it is: unacceptable, sexist, and detrimental to the entire sport.”
Glamour: “The message behind a sex toy in particular is pretty unambiguous. The intent is to sexualize and demean the women players because they are women. And that is nothing new at all. If I had a nickel for every time a sex toy was thrown on the court at a WNBA game, I would have just three nickels. But if I had a nickel for every time a powerful female athlete was subjected to some kind of misogynistic backlash, I’d have enough money to fund my own women’s basketball league.”
What is the WNBA saying?
The WNBA issued a statement on Aug. 4 after Carver’s arrest related the July 29 sex toy incident in Atlanta.
“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 WNBA said in a statement. “In line with WNBA Arena Security Standards, any fan who intentionally throws an object onto the court will be immediately ejected and face a minimum one-year ban in addition to being subject to arrest and prosecution by local authorities.”
Source: https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/547916/the-wnba-still-has-a-man-problem/