Toronto Thanks Kawhi with “Thnks fr th Mmrs” Tribute
TORONTO, ON — Kawhi’s return to Scotiabank Arena was one of the most anticipated moments of the NBA regular season. The gutsy call by the Raptors front office to rent Leonard for a season culminated in Canada winning its first NBA title. Although, Kawhi opted to leave America’s hat in the offseason, the city of Toronto has nothing but love for its former champion. Jalen Rose has even argued that the franchise should retire his number after only a single season with the Raptors. That’s how much this championship means to the Canadian basketball community.
The Raptors have had this date circled on their calendar since the day the NBA regular season was released. In addition to presenting Kawhi with his championship ring, the organization wanted to do something special to commemorate the return of one of their all-time greats. The front office has been alluding to a spectacular event for weeks. The Raptors put up Kawhi Leonard billboards all around downtown Toronto with an active countdown to the game and the caption “Don’t Miss the Champion’s Return…12/11/19.” However, specifics regarding the event were withheld from the public. All anyone knew was that the ring ceremony was going to take place before tipoff.
After pre-game warm-ups, Kawhi was invited to the center of the arena to receive his championship ring. The quiet star waved to the crowd as he was received with thunderous applause.
“Now Kawhi, the city of Toronto would like to thank you for bringing home a championship,” team co-owner, Lawrence Tanenbaum, boomed over the microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome…FALL OUT BOY.”
Confusion immediately beset the audience, but the polite people of Canada clapped anyway despite their bewilderment. The band kicked things off with an Alt-Rock version of “O Canada” which local journalists later branded “offensive.” After concluding Canada’s national anthem, Fall Out Boy broke out into their 2007 hit “Thnks fr th Mmrs” while the jumbotron played a Kawhi Leonard highlight montage from the previous season. Fans in the audience were quick to point out on social media the stylistic similarities of the montage to a 1990s teen television drama.
“These cuts and filters have me feeling like last season was just a long episode of 90210. WTF is this. #KawhiHomecoming”
Members of the Raptors were seen grimacing throughout the cringeworthy tribute. At one point, Norman Powell could be seen wincing in response to a Kawhi Leonard meme that was displayed as a part of the tribute. Kyle Lowry was seen at one point shaking his head and mouthing, “Whew, lad” to Fred VanVleet. Meanwhile, management beamed with pride, oblivious to how poorly their tribute ceremony was being received. And because Thnks fr th Mmrs is only a 3 minute and 23 second song, Fall Out Boy had to repeat the song nearly five times to accommodate the entire 15-minute video. The audience begged for it to stop, but no one heard their cries over the Fall Out Boy.
After the game, Leonard had this to say about the tribute ceremony:
“This is why I left Toronto. That shit right there. I mean Jesus Christ I had to smile and wave through that shit. That was, without a doubt, the cringiest moment of my life and I am a VERY weird guy.”
