Prankster 'Naps' at WNBA Game, Gets Himself a Total NBA Ban

Due to what one blogger calls 'sexist' stunts at WNBA games
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 24, 2023 2:30 AM CDT
Updated Jul 29, 2023 6:30 AM CDT

YouTube prankster JiDion, known for staging practical jokes at sporting and other major events that are then featured on his channel, apparently went too far for the NBA. As NBC Sports points out, the joker last year got a haircut courtside at an NBA game, which was so not a problem that the league itself tweeted about it. Last week, however, two pranks at WNBA games apparently pushed JiDion over the line. At the first game, he took a shot after the ball bounced over to him in his courtside seats, and was ejected from the game. At the next, he pretended to sleep in the courtside seats—pillow and blanket included—and was reportedly "banned indefinitely from all NBA related events" for that prank, though the NBA has not confirmed that.

The full video shows police and security officers telling him to get up and then escorting him out of the arena where the Los Angeles Sparks were playing. At Jezebel, Kylie Cheung writes that JiDion was likely staging the "sexist" WNBA pranks in an attempt to "embarrass women basketball players and their fans." She says since the apparent ban was reported, JiDion's fans have "waged a harassment campaign" against the WNBA on social media, overloading the comments sections of the league's posts with the sleeping emoji. "It should go without saying," Cheung writes, "that the users making these comments, probably from a futon in their parents' basement, are possibly the least athletic people alive." (More NBA stories.)

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