WNBA sex toys timeline: Every incident involving fans throwing neon green objects at games

WNBA sex toys timeline: Every incident involving fans throwing neon green objects at games originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

WNBA games have been plagued by an all-too-familiar sight as of late, with multiple confirmed cases of bright green dildos being launched toward the floor after the league faced the same issue in 2025.

Last year, four of those occurrences saw the sex toys reach the floor. Another three landed in the concourses. Multiple arrests were made, while players, coaches, and media members alike pleaded with the general public to stop the dehumanizing act.

For a time, it appeared the trend died down — but after two instances of sex-toy-throwing during August 2026 WNBA games, the issue has popped right back up, prompting criticism from players.

Here’s what you need to know about the recent incidents as well as their potential origins.

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WNBA sex toy timeline

July 29, 2025: First sex toy tossed onto court during Dream-Valkyries matchup

The first incident took place on July 29 during a 2025 matchup between Atlanta and Golden State. With less than a minute left in the game and the two sides level at 75, the green dildo made its dismount, flying from the stands onto the floor after being fired onto the court by a then-unnamed assailant.

The device nearly made contact with a Valkyries player. It was disposed of by an Atlanta security guard, who whisked the object away with a towel.

Aug. 1, 2025: Second incident occurs during Valkyries-Sky

The Valkyries’ Aug. 1 road clash with the Sky brought about the second occurrence of a dildo crashing onto the floor. The bright green apparatus was thrown onto the court early in the third quarter of the matchup, prompting a halt to the action. The referee once again responded quickly, kicking the toy out of the way to preserve the sanctity of the game.

Participants expressed outrage over the gesture. Chicago center Elizabeth Williams labeled the act “immature.”

“Whoever is doing it just needs to grow up,” Williams said.

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Aug. 5, 2025: Three games scorned by sight of dildos

Three games that took place on Aug. 5, 2025, were felled, at least momentarily, by dildos. The Fever‘s joust with the Sparks at Crypto.com Arena was briefly stopped after an onlooker rifled another green sex toy onto the court, this one appearing to collide with Indiana wing Sophie Cunningham.

Cunningham was vocal about her distaste for the gesture on X, the website formerly known as Twitter.

“Stop throwing dildos on the court,” Cunningham wrote. “You’re going to hurt one of us.”

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Plum kicked the dildo off the floor after sinking her first free throw.

Two other incidents took place involving sex toys that same night — one during the Mercury–Sun fixture at PHX Arena, the other involving the Liberty and Wings at Barclays Center.

While the sex toy touched down on the floor in Indiana’s matchup with Los Angeles, the same couldn’t be said in New York. The dildo fell short of the court, landing in the concourses instead.

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Aug. 5, 2025: Fans arrested for throwing green dildos at Dream, Mercury games

An 18-year-old Arizona man was arrested after allegedly throwing a dildo towards the floor at the Mercury-Sun game. Police said the spectator pulled the sex toy from his sweater pocket and launched it toward the floor. It struck a spectator in the back.

The man told police the gesture was a prank that he saw trending on social media. A volunteer at the arena followed the man after witnessing the incident and tackled him.

Police reportedly booked the man on suspicion of assault, disorderly conduct, and publicly displaying sexual material. The arrest came days after a 23-year-old Georgia man was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, public indecency/indecent exposure, and criminal trespass related to the July 29 incident at the Dream-Valkyries game.

Aug. 7, 2025: Cryptocurrency group claims responsibility for some of the incidents, distances itself from arrests

A collective of unnamed cryptocurrency investors claimed responsibility for some of the attacks on Aug. 7 during the 2025 season, revealing that the act was part of a rollout of a meme coin created on July 28.

The meme coin’s community, titled Green Dildo Coin, was erected to protest the “toxic” environment in cryptocurrency, according to USA Today. The people behind the cabal are unknown. But they’re believed to have coordinated some of the incidents on social media, per The Athletic.

Livestreams regarding the use of bright green dildos at WNBA games — likened to “giant green, aggressive, and erect candles” by the collective’s founder, Lt. Daldo Raine (a spoof of Brad Pitt’s character, Lt. Aldo Raine, from Quentin Tarantino’s film, “Inglourious Basterds”) — routinely featured disparaging commentary about the league and its players.

“The attention we created for a ($40) dildo and ($140) seats is next level,” said one member of the community, per The Athletic. “This is empowering to every f—ing crypto community to start thinking outside the box. Get creative and do something that makes people actually laugh. Meme coins should make you laugh. Memes should make you laugh.

“This is a movement to me to empower the average f—ing teacher. I don’t care if you have 100,000 followers or 10 followers. Your f—ing posts matter, they have the ability to go viral, as long as they’re actually f—ing funny.”

A spokesperson for the community called the gesture lighthearted and a “prank” in an interview with USA Today. They recoiled at the suggestion that they would attempt to harm someone or that the sex toys were disrespectful to women athletes.

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“We didn’t do this because we dislike women’s sports. 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.

“We knew that in order to get a voice in the space … we had to go out and do some viral stunts to save us from having to pay that influencer cabal, sacrifice our souls and the fate of the project.”

The spokesperson vowed that other “pranks” are on the horizon, but they’re “a lot lighter, a lot more tasteful.” They also claimed that neither of the two arrests had anything to do with them.

The spokesperson’s comments came hours after Donald Trump Jr. shared an AI-generated image of his father, President Donald Trump, watching on as a green dildo fell on a WNBA court.

“Posted without further comment,” Trump Jr. captioned the image.

Aug. 7, 2025: Two more incidents of dildos being thrown at games recorded

The Aug. 7 nightcap in 2025 saw dildos tossed in yet another game. A purple sex toy was thrown onto the court in the waning moments of Atlanta’s 86-65 win.

According to Front Office Sports’ Colin Salao, a second object was thrown towards the floor, but it landed behind the Dream’s bench.

Aug. 8, 2025: WNBA releases statement

The WNBA released a statement about the sex toy throwing incidents obtained by USA Today.

“The safety of everyone in our arenas remains a top priority. We are working closely with local and federal law enforcement to pursue all appropriate actions — including arrest and prosecution with felony charges where applicable — against anyone engaged in this conduct or otherwise involved in sponsoring this reckless and unacceptable behavior.”

Aug. 21, 2025: Arrest made for August 5 Liberty game

A 32-year-old man from Ohio was arrested on August 20, 2025. He was suspected of throwing a sex toy that hit a 12-year-old fan at the Liberty game on August 5. The man, Charles Burgess, was facing several criminal charges, including multiple counts of assault, interfering with a professional sporting event, reckless endangerment, harassment and obscenity, per The Athletic. The top charge is second-degree attempted assault, which could result in a seven-year prison sentence.

Aug. 20, 2026: Sex toys return to WNBA court after one year

For nearly a full year, it appeared the sex-toy-throwing issue had thankfully died down for the WNBA. That was not the case.

In a matchup between the Dream and Sparks on Aug. 20, 2026, Jihyun Park went to the line to shoot free throws for Los Angeles. But officials’ whistles sounded when a green object was thrown onto the court, stopping play, an all-too-familiar sight for WNBA fans.

Cameras then cut to Angel Reese from the bench, with the Dream star clearly pointing to who she believed threw the sex toy from the stands.

The alleged fan who threw the sex toy on the court was then seen pushing a security officer out of the way to leave the arena.

The following day, Front Office Sports reported that the individual that threw the sex toy was “apprehended by arena security and arrested,” and they also received an “indefinite ban” from all WNBA and NBA events

Aug. 21, 2026: Second-straight night of sex toy on court

The following night, it happened again. During the Sky vs. Valkyries matchup on Aug. 21, in the third quarter, multiple sex toys were thrown onto the court. “At least three objects were thrown,” with at least one landing on the court, per The Athletic.

Postgame, Sky guard Natasha Cloud went on a rant about the fans who threw the objects, calling them “lame as f—.”

“The men that are throwing it, it also shows that you are weak — like, extremely weak — and it says a lot about how you feel about women,” Cloud said. “That hate is unwarranted. It’s not factual. It says more about the internal struggles of that individual than it ever will say about the collective group.”

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