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.

  • LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
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    1 hour ago

    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.

  • weew@lemmy.ca
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    3 hours 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

  • lorty@lemmy.ml
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    5 hours ago

    I bet the price of that console was going to break their bank.

  • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
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    7 hours ago

    Jfc… How much of a psychopathic piece of shit do you have to be, to hurt a kid’s feelings like that?! I fucking hate people.

  • KingOfTheCouch@lemmy.ca
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    6 hours ago

    I mean I would get it if they had an empty box out on the court for the show, and then having to take away the empty show box… But they gave the kid a jersey instead? Wtf?

    • LandedGentry@lemmy.zip
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      1 hour ago

      I don’t understand how what you’re describing is better. If you make the kid think he’s just gotten a PS5 then to take it away is incredibly cruel. Giving him a jersey is just insult cherry on the shameful cake. Unless I am misunderstanding what you’re proposing?

      • bork@sh.itjust.works
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        24 minutes ago

        Pretty sure they are saying use an empty box on the court (lighter, no risk of breaking), and then take away the empty box afterwards (implied to give them an actual, not-empty box afterwards).

      • thejoker954@lemmy.world
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        57 minutes ago

        I think they meant like theyd still give em a ps5 it just wouldn’t have been in the box on camera.

  • NutWrench@lemmy.ml
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    8 hours ago

    The skit that “missed the mark” . . .

    Quit sucking up to corporate America, yahoo sports writer. The Hornets farked up a simple PR event in every way it was possible TO fark up. They baited and switched a PS5 with a t-shirt and thought no one would find out about it.

    • theangryseal@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      And they have so damn much money that giving him the PS5 would have been like you or me flicking a penny to the kid.

      People suck sometimes, I swear.

  • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    That sounds about right, I’ve never gotten anything nice from a hornet. The one time I did get something from a hornet, it was a painful disappointment.

    • Delilah (She/Her)@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      4 hours ago

      Speak for yourself. Bees are an invasive species given an unfair advantage through their alliance with humanity. If they aren’t native to an area, they are a pest that competes with local pollinators and drives them toward extinction

  • VanillerGoriller@sh.itjust.works
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    9 hours ago

    I wonder how it affected the kid. I don’t know the grade school culture these days but when I was his age I think it would’ve earned sympathy points from the whole class and boosted his social ranking lol. As an aside I do not miss that aspect of school lol

    • theangryseal@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      Man, I wish I had gone to your school.

      I would have went back to school the next day and the kids would have presented me with two broken PS2s taped to a broken PS1 and giggled while singing, “I love your PS5, it makes me holler! Where’d you get it, Family Dollar?!”

      Fat kid in the background with a Taz tattoo on one arm and a confederate flag on the other (at the ripe old age of 10) would have shouted, “LIKE HIS SHOES! AHAHAHAHAHA!”

          • ivanafterall ☑️@lemmy.world
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            5 hours ago

            Might have to get more specific. For example, I recall a trailer park pinecone war that pitted kids from one half of the trailer park against those low-life bastards from the other half. I’m from the good half, obviously.

            • theangryseal@lemmy.world
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              2 hours ago

              Ooooh I got one better! My bunch had a chestnut shell war that pitted kids from one holler against another holler (hollow, but properly pronounced. :p). The smallest kid was captured and thrown into a pile of chestnut shells and kicked around until he was bloody from head to toe after the two groups formed an alliance against the weakest member.

              That kid today is covered in tattoos from head to toe that look like a kindergartener drew all over him. Folks call him Gump. He is all sorts of messed up.

              I ran when it started and the next day I heard, “Look at sissy over ‘ere. He ain’t got no scabs ‘cause he ran away like a lil queer!”

  • Beacon@fedia.io
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    12 hours ago

    That’s called theft. Legally a gift is irrevocable once it’s given.

    • dev_null@lemmy.ml
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      1 hour ago

      He was given an empty box for show, letting him keep it wouldn’t make it any better.

    • ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
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      9 hours ago

      They never intended on giving the kid the gift. If they allowed them to go home with the PS5, and then requested it back the next day, then the family would have a good argument that ownership was transferred to them. This was just a bad joke.

      • Beacon@fedia.io
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        5 hours ago

        Intent matters but not if the intent was to deceive. If the act had all the elements that represent giving a gift, then legally it WAS giving a gift. Otherwise all gifts could be taken back at any time just by claiming that it was actually a joke.

      • shottymcb@lemm.ee
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        9 hours ago

        That’s utter nonsense. A gift only counts if you make it home with the gift? Where did you come up with that?

        • ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
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          22 minutes ago

          Gift law

          The donor of the gift must have a present intent to make a gift of the property to the donee

          Intent needs to be proven or it’s not a gift. They did not intend on giving a gift.

        • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
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          8 hours ago

          I’m guessing it’s based on the rules of the schoolyard game to run from one side of a field to the other while avoiding the corporate bullies in the center.

      • PiousAgnostic@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        Why would the act of going home change the legality? Or intent?

        If i take a $20 bill and hand it to a stranger in front of witnesses and say, “Here you go, this is a gift.”

        If in 5 mins, I snatch that bill back and walk away. That’s legal? Because he didn’t touch his house first, and I never had intent to give a gift?

    • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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      6 hours ago

      If a PS5 is too expensive to give away, then don’t pretend to give one away.

      I feel like I shouldn’t have to say this.

    • DandomRude@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      Compared to the marketing expenses of even very small companies, a PS5 is so ridiculously cheap that these costs are not even worth mentioning.

        • DandomRude@lemmy.world
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          6 hours ago

          Sure. But the Hornets aren’t interested in the child, they’re only interested in marketing. The only way I can explain this is that either some employee wanted the PS5 and just took it from the kid or the Hornets’ marketing department thinks that even bad publicity is free publicity. Maybe they intentionally planned for the predictable media coverage on this matter because it also brings attention. If the Hornets wanted to buy this kind of exposure, that paltry $500 wouldn’t even begin to cover it.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      The team has revenue in the millions. They’d never have noticed the money. This should be in the dictionary under Penny Wise, Pound Foolish.