Crypto group says it orchestrated sex toy tosses in WNBA games - ESPN

A self-described crypto enthusiast told ESPN he is part of a group that orchestrated recent sex toy stunts that have disrupted at least three WNBA games in the past 10 days.

The man, who spoke on the condition of anonymity over Zoom on Wednesday, said the stunts were meant to market a crypto coin that his online community created. The WNBA and all its «controversy,» he said, made the league a logical target.

«It was more or less like an opportunistic approach to, you know, what is already trending,» he said. «Where is there already controversy and how do we intercept some of that attention?»

The man, who uses Lt. Daldo Raine as his username on X — a nod, he said, to the Brad Pitt character in the movie «Inglourious Basterds» — kept his camera off and refused to give his name or age during the call with ESPN. The group, he said, wants to reclaim the creative and community aspects of the crypto world.

«We wanted to really make memes funny again,» he said.

On Thursday, a league spokesperson declined to answer ESPN's questions about the group that claimed responsibility or adjustments to arena security. USA Today first reported news of the group's claim.

WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson told ESPN on Thursday that the players' union requested an update from the league and was told the league was investigating claims that individuals were being incentivized to carry out the stunts.

The man told ESPN the coin started trading on July 28, the day before the first sex toy was thrown at a WNBA game. The coin's transaction record on Dex Screener, a website that tracks real-time prices of crypto currencies, confirms that timeline.

Posts from the group's Telegram community, which includes over 1,000 users, were reviewed by ESPN.