this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2024
765 points (98.9% liked)

Not The Onion

12559 readers
1112 users here now

Welcome

We're not The Onion! Not affiliated with them in any way! Not operated by them in any way! All the news here is real!

The Rules

Posts must be:

  1. Links to news stories from...
  2. ...credible sources, with...
  3. ...their original headlines, that...
  4. ...would make people who see the headline think, “That has got to be a story from The Onion, America’s Finest News Source.”

Comments must abide by the server rules for Lemmy.world and generally abstain from trollish, bigoted, or otherwise disruptive behavior that makes this community less fun for everyone.

And that’s basically it!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

The skit that "missed the mark" occurred in a break in play during the second quarter of Charlotte's game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday. The child was brought onto the court with Hugo, the Hornets' mascot, dressed as Santa Claus. After a letter to Santa requesting a PS5 was read out loud, a cheerleader came out with a bag containing the video game console.

The young fan was visibly overjoyed as he received the pricy gift. However, according to an online acquaintance, he was less happy when the cameras turned off and a Hornets staffer took it away, replacing it with a jersey.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 107 points 6 days ago (4 children)

This means there was at least one meeting where this plan was discussed and approved by multiple staffers who have jobs and salaries and manage to find their way to work and back home at night.

[–] Dnb@lemmy.dbzer0.com 46 points 6 days ago

Likely it cost more to have said meeting than the ps5 itself

[–] PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world 17 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I can almost guarantee that one of them wanted the PS5 for themselves, and insisted on swapping it out so they could take the console.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 69 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I swear The Boys gets more and more blatant with how evil Corporate America is, but cmon, this episode is just completely ridiculous. Not even Homelander would be that ev....

Wait this happened in a REAL Sportsball game? This is not a bit? sugh

I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It’s absolutely amazing to me that they didn’t realize this was gonna cause a backlash.

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 3 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Right? Like, I don't understand in what universe did this seem like a good idea?

They actually read the fucking kid's letter to Santa live at the Stadium, and only pretended to give him a PS5? This is basically bullying the poor guy.

[–] p03locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago

"Ooooh, this is a letter to Santa. My mistake. I thought you meant Satan! Like we would pretend to give you a gift and then Satan would take it away."

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Was it even the kid's letter to begin with? The whole thing just seems like a setup.

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

If it was setup, then why the fuck didn't they just have the letter say he wanted the Jersey of his favorite Hornets player and aovid this shit? That just makes it even more incompetent.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

PS5 seems more plausible that a kid would want, in my mind. 🤷‍♂️ But yeah. Pretending to do anything at all seems like a bad idea to begin with.

[–] ansiz@lemmy.world 53 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I feel like this is so boneheaded that it has to be the case where the staff member in charge of this giveaway just wanted to keep the PS5 themselves and thought the kids wouldn't complain about the ol' switcheroo! This just even sounds like something Michael Scott would have done in The Office.

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 49 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (3 children)

No, Michael Scott is a moron, not a jackass. He wouldn't pull this shit. He's tone deaf, he constantly thinks he's doing the right thing without realizing why what he's doing has the opposite of the intended effect even when it's obvious to everyone else. Giving a kid something he wants and then taking it away when no one's look is a move of calculated evil.

He'd imply heavily a PS5 then give the kid a Jersey, at no point would he actually have the thing in the kid's hand and then take it back.

Maybe that's just me, but I don't see Michael Scott as a character that would knowingly choose to do something immoral. He'd do a bad deed, but without realizing it.

Mike Scott's more the "We're taking away free tampons on the women's room, because we just don't have the money for luxury goods." type, who's then baffled when he's called sexist because he legitimately believed tampons were a luxury. Not the "Promote a woman? Are you insane? This is a man's office sweetheart!" type.

I could totally see Dwight taking the PS5 for himself and mocking the kid over it though. Even then he'd do it out of Chaos, not Evil.

[–] koper@feddit.nl 2 points 4 days ago

Michael kidnapped a pizza delivery boy because he didn't want to pay full prize. This fits right in.

[–] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 12 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Top tier analysis. Thank you.

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

I've been playing as Michael Scott in that Funko Fusion game, I've been doing "The Thing" stages as him, because it's the funniest thing I can imagine happening.

It has gotten me thinking a lot about the character and how he'd behave.

[–] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago

Ah so you are classically trained.

[–] ChairmanMeow@programming.dev 5 points 5 days ago

Season 1 Michael was a bit more of a jackass though. Maybe he could've done it.

[–] aesthelete@lemmy.world 59 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It'd be nice if people stopped acting like fucking psychos.

[–] jimbolauski@lemm.ee 28 points 6 days ago (1 children)

$500 for good press or $0 for bad. Looks like Charlotte is as bad at math as they are at basketball.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] VinesNFluff@pawb.social 27 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Certain headlines get really funny if you pretend sports don't exist.

Or, in my case for this particular situation, if you are a foreigner and are missing a lot of context for American Sports.

[–] TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works 16 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The writer of this article is definitely a hornet.

The skit that "missed the mark"

[–] weew@lemmy.ca 60 points 6 days ago

What fucking cheapskates.

Do they make their players turn out their pockets after each game in case they picked up some loose change off the ground too? Lol

[–] randon31415@lemmy.world 24 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 13 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee 20 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 13 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I thought that was still ongoing, what with all the school shootings

[–] Kbobabob@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago

Still a work in progress. Christian School recently, so I guess Bibles and the ten commandments in the classroom doesn't stop anything. Who would have thought?

[–] Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml 17 points 6 days ago (1 children)

See this is why everyone hates Hornets, first the bullshit with the not making any honey and then this shit. They're so aggressive.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] morphballganon@lemmy.world 19 points 6 days ago

The only conceivable explanation is that the person who planned this sees audience members as less than human.

[–] WorldwideCommunity@lemm.ee 16 points 6 days ago

Reminds me of the time some asshole tried to switch some kid who was meant to walk out on the field with Zlatan with his own and got caught Link: https://youtu.be/NFYN3bY0kc8

load more comments
view more: next ›