WASHINGTON — What happens when an NBA franchise conducts a staged April Fools’ Day skit that seems so real — and so mean — that it makes the franchise appear as if it pulled a cruel prank on one of its fans? Just ask the Washington Wizards.
In the face of widespread backlash, it turns out, the joke’s on them.
The Wizards issued a public apology Thursday, approximately 16 hours after their game-night presentation crew appeared to trick a blindfolded fan into thinking he’d won $10,000 for making a half-court shot.
A Monumental Basketball spokesperson told The Athletic on Thursday that the three “fans” who attempted half-court shots are friends of Monumental Sports & Entertainment employees and were in on the joke. Monumental Sports & Entertainment is the company that includes the Wizards, the NHL’s Washington Capitals and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics.
However, that wasn’t clear at the time of the skit, or in the intervening hours before the team’s apology.
The skit occurred during halftime of the Wizards’ eventual 153-131 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers at Capital One Arena on the evening of April Fools’ Day. Three people who were said to be fans from the audience were brought onto the court and blindfolded to take shots from the half-court logo, with a member of the Wizards’ game-night crew holding an oversized check with “Ten thousand” and “$10,000” scrawled on it.
After the first two participants missed their shots, one more “fan” took his shot.
“Jackson, it’s all on you,” the Wizards’ in-game host, Britt Waters, told the so-called fan, who was being blindfolded by the Wizards’ furry blue mascot, G-Wiz. “This might be history if you get this done. For $10,000!”
A drumroll played, and Jackson’s shot missed the rim and the backboard.
“Oh, my!” Waters yelled. Sound effects played over the public-address system, and G-Wiz and other mascots from out-of-town teams — including the Montreal Canadiens’ Youppi, the Denver Nuggets’ Rocky and the Detroit Tigers’ Paws — converged on Jackson to celebrate.
“Somebody’s rich! The mascots are going crazy!” Waters continued. “The contestant’s going crazy! Jackson, oh, my gosh! You didn’t see it. We all saw it. Do you want to see it?”
The arena’s video board replayed the shot, and Waters said, “You go up with it right here, and you see how it just doesn’t … it doesn’t actually go in.”
G-Wiz then took the oversized check from Jackson’s hands.
Footage from the skit spread throughout social media on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
“To do this to a fan that chose to come see a 17-win team is unhinged,” Jemele Hill, a contributing writer for The Atlantic, wrote on X.
“This is so on-brand for the Wizards season. Finding new ways to offend their (few) fans,” Andrew Brandt, a Villanova University law school professor, former sports agent and former NFL team executive, wrote on X.
The Wizards issued their apology midday Thursday, writing: “We apologize for last night’s April Fools’ joke that left many wondering if we had misled a fan. The skit involving our mascot and other members of our performance team was scripted and intended to celebrate the day. All participants were in on the joke, but we missed the mark. Our fans are our priority, and we continue to be committed to providing a positive experience to all who attend our games.”