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OutKick host celebrates sex toys being thrown on WNBA courts: ‘It's funny' and a ‘good time'
OutKick host celebrates sex toys being thrown on WNBA courts: ‘It's funny' and a ‘good time'

The Independent

time08-08-2025

  • Sport
  • The Independent

OutKick host celebrates sex toys being thrown on WNBA courts: ‘It's funny' and a ‘good time'

While WNBA coaches and players plead with fans to stop throwing fluorescent sex toys onto the court during games, conservative sports pundit Dan Dakich urged the women's basketball league to 'embrace' the trend because 'it's funny' and not at all 'dangerous.' Dakich, who hosts a podcast for the Fox-owned right-wing sports outlet OutKick, appeared on Fox News Friday and was asked to weigh in on the growing number of incidents where green sex toys are being thrown toward players during WNBA games. Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer, who said he was unaware of this story until recently due to his current assignment in the Middle East, teed up the question by airing a clip of Los Angeles Sparks coach Lynne Roberts blasting the ongoing stunt as 'ridiculous' and a danger to player safety. 'I think it's really stupid,' Roberts said after Tuesday night's win over the Indiana Fever. During that game, yet another sex toy was tossed on the court and landed right by the feet of Fever star Sophie Cunningham. 'Well, two things. One, it is ridiculous,' Dakich reacted. 'But you want attention, and as your league gets bigger, these are the kinds of things that are gonna happen. You go to an NFL game or a major league baseball game – occasionally, dudes are running onto the field, grabbing the football, running on naked. As your league expands, it expands to more people, which means more morons.' While acknowledging that WNBA games are a 'great experience' for kids and that he 'hates for families to have to explain to a little girl what the hell was just thrown on the court,' Dakich chuckled that he 'personally thinks it's funny' and he wishes the league 'would embrace it.' Additionally, he took issue with players and coaches expressing concern for personal safety over the rubber sex toys being thrown in their direction during gameplay. 'It's not dangerous,' the ex-coach insisted. 'I've been on basketball courts since 1969 and had stuff thrown at me at Purdue and Ohio State and other places when I played at Indiana. Nothing about it is dangerous! So get that out of the way!' He continued: 'It is funny. The betting markets are on it. People are having a good time with it. Sophie Cunningham, one of the stars of the Fever, is laughing about it! I wish they would laugh about it.' Indeed, Cunningham did recently joke about the incidents on her podcast, prompting Dakich's OutKick colleagues to praise her for 'showing the Libs how to properly handle something.' At the same time, though, Cunningham had previously tweeted for fans to 'stop throwing d**** on the court…you're going to hurt one of us,' only for a sex toy to nearly hit her five days later. And while Cunningham did poke fun at the situation on her podcast, she also expressed frustration about the pranks on that same episode and noted that it undermined the league's efforts to gain legitimacy with the American public. 'The bounce that thing had! I just know how things go viral now. If that thing came from the rafters or bows and just slapped me right in the face, that would be what I'd be known for for life,' she said. 'Everyone's trying to make sure the W is not a joke and it's taken seriously, and then that happens. I'm like, 'How are we ever going to get taken seriously?'' Multiple men have now been arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, public indecency and indecent exposure for throwing the sex toys on the court, which have now occurred in at least four games. It also appears that the incidents could be linked to a cryptocurrency group's scheme to pump up the value of a meme coin. According to The Athletic, Green D**** Coin was created on July 28 – a day before the first incident occurred at a WNBA game. The coin's value has now tripled in worth. During a live audiostream on X during the Sparks-Fever game on Tuesday night, members of the crypto group celebrated when Cunningham was nearly hit with the sex toy. 'That is literally the best case scenario that we could possibly imagine,' one member said, noting that Cunningham had urged fans to stop throwing d**** days earlier. '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,' another person declared. 'The whole mission with this was focus on making an impact in crypto culture.' Still, while the league is calling for the stunts to end due to safety reasons and players and coaches are calling the pranks 'demeaning and insulting,' not to mention misogynistic, MAGA world continues to applaud the throwing of sex toys at female athletes. Donald Trump Jr., who prides himself as the 'general in the meme wars,' posted a mocked-up image of his father throwing a green sex toy onto a WNBA court from atop the White House. 'Posted without further comment,' the presidential scion wrote.

Stephen A. Smith accused of 'ruining' the NBA Draft as criticism mounts against $100m ESPN star
Stephen A. Smith accused of 'ruining' the NBA Draft as criticism mounts against $100m ESPN star

Daily Mail​

time27-06-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Daily Mail​

Stephen A. Smith accused of 'ruining' the NBA Draft as criticism mounts against $100m ESPN star

ESPN star Stephen A. Smith has been accused of 'ruining' the NBA Draft by basketball fans on social media as well as others who cover the sport, such as OutKick's Dan Dakich. Dakich spent a long portion of his show on Friday airing his grievances with Smith, as the episode was titled ' WOKE ESPN & Stephen A. Smith RUINED The NBA Draft'. Smith is a staple of ESPN's NBA coverage but has rarely spent time covering the athletes being drafted this week, with Dakich, a former college head coach, taking exception with the network's decision to put him on the broadcast. 'The best in the draft was always Fran Fraschilla, but Fran Fraschilla is a middle aged white guy. Fran Fraschilla doesn't yell, scream, rant and rave and act like an idiot,' Dakich said. 'He knows every foreign player. Seth Greenberg on radio knows every current player. But you can't do it because, well, you gotta have some brothers.' 'You got to have loud, you got to have stupid. And, oh, by the way, they're paying the dude 20million a year, which is the dumbest deal in the history of television. I still say this. Can anybody show me where First Take is the highest rated show in the morning like Smith claims? Can anybody show me where Stephen A. Smith makes the money back that he's being paid, anybody? You can't, there's no chance.' Earlier this year, Smith signed a 5-year, $100million deal with the network, locking him in through 2030 to ESPN. Dakich also called the ESPN star 'Screamin' A. Smith' for how he acts on national television. Dakich and Smith were co-workers at ESPN from 2012 until 2021, with Dakich helping with the network's college basketball coverage. 'ESPN needs to stop putting Stephen A Smith on every event he is not needed for the NBA draft you got staff that been following college ball all year far more knowledgeable,' one fan said on social media. Smith has been under a microscope for all of 2025, first toying with a run to be the Democratic nominee for President in 2028. Earlier this month, he came under fire for not paying attention during an NBA Finals Game, as he was caught playing on his phone while the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers squared off in front of him. Smith responded on X: 'Yep! That's me. Who would've thought….I can multi-task. Especially during TIMEOUTS! Hope y'all are enjoying the NBA Finals. This is going 7 games now, peeps!' Yet, the photographer named Kimberly hit back in an instant, shutting down Smith's claim that it was captured during a timeout. 'Fool, this was you during game play,' she replied along with another picture of him tackling the card game. 'There's videos. You started this new round during timeouts.'

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