Charlotte Hornets apologize for gifting PlayStation 5 to child – and then taking it away off camera

By Matias Grez, CNN

(CNN) — The Charlotte Hornets have apologized for appearing to gift a PlayStation 5 to a child during an on-court skit, only to later take it back from him off camera.

The incident, which occurred during Monday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers, was captured in a post on X that now has 4.5 million views.

The post shows the Hornets’ mascot, Hugo, dressed as Santa Claus handing the PlayStation 5 to a young fan, who takes the gift with a mixture of shock and delight on his face.

However, the X user – who said the child is his best friend’s nephew – said Hornets staff later took the PlayStation back from the boy off camera and handed him a jersey instead.

Perhaps a Grinch outfit for Hugo would have been more fitting instead.

Speaking to local outlet Queen City News (QCN), the boy’s uncle, Alexei Phillips, said a Hornets staff member whispered to him beforehand that the kids were not going to keep the presents they received on the court.

Crucially, this information wasn’t relayed to his 13-year-old nephew, who Phillips said is called Jack.

“At this point, everybody thinks that Jack is going to get this PS5, including all the dancers, all the cheerleaders, everybody basically like, starts congratulating him,” Phillips told QCN. “There was even a Hornets dancer who actually gave him the PS5 … she starts to pack it up for him in the bag.

“Then we get kind of like all the way to the backstage and, you know, the guy who kind of found us in the first place, he starts to kind of take it away. And everybody thinks he’s joking because nobody would think he’d be taking the PS5 from the kid.

“It got pretty awkward because, eventually, he had to make it make it clear that he wasn’t joking.”

The Hornets later apologized, saying the incident was “an on-court skit that missed the mark.”

“The skit included bad decision making and poor communication. Simply put, we turned the ball over and we apologize,” the Hornets said in a statement posted by WCNC Charlotte reporter Nick Carboni.

“We have reached out to the family and are committed to not only making it right but to exceeding expectations. We will be providing the fan with the PS5 that he should have taken home last night along with a VIP experience to a future game.”

CNN has reached out to the Hornets for comment.

Phillips also told QCN that the Hornets reached out to the family to apologize and added that there were no hard feelings towards the franchise.

“The funny thing is, if he had just gone out in the first place and they just gave him a jersey out there on the court, he would have been stoked, you know,” Phillips said.

So it looks like the Grinch didn’t steal Christmas after all for Jack.

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