Summary
Following fallout from an on-court skit gone wrong, the Charlotte Hornets, one of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) 30 teams, has apologized for the incident, while confirming that the organization will indeed be giving the young fan involved aPlayStation 5console.
Information about the Hornets' apology comes by way of a statement released to a reporter at WCNC Charlotte, a local NBC affiliate TV station.
Via that statement, the Hornets acknowledged the skit, adding “We apologize.” Additionally, it made it clear that the young fan will indeed receive a PS5, as well as a “VIP Experience” at a future game.
Things Went Badly Quickly
In a post on Twitter that has since generated nearly five million views, a young fan and his guardian were brought on-court during a Hornets game for some sort of interim segment. As part of that segment, the Hornets' mascot gave the child a PS5 console. However, it was all for naught.
That’s because, according to the poster, the Hornets took away the console after the segment ended, instead replacing it with a jersey.
According to reporting from CNN, not everyone was in on the skit. A Hornets employee allegedly told the guardian that the children involved in the segment would not be keeping the gifts, though the club failed to provide that information to the children themselves.
“The skit included bad decision-making and poor communication," the statement acknowledged.
Eventually, when everyone was backstage, things got dicey, per the reporting. “It got pretty awkward because, eventually, (the employee) had to make it make it clear that he wasn’t joking,” Alexei Phillips.
It appears that all is well now, and the Hornets are no longer the Grinch in this story. More so, the child involved, who had wished for a PS5 for Christmas, is set to have the console in hand soon, along with a VIP experience waiting for him down the line.
