{"id":"1792881275053-viral-segment","slug":"raptors-fans-called-out","title":"Raptors Fans Called Out","summary":"The Toronto Raptors opened the 2026-27 NBA season with a franchise-record blowout, beating the Chicago Bulls 135-92 on Wednesday. The sold-out Scotiabank Arena crowd of 19,800 thinned out early, especially after Kawhi Leonard and Scottie Barnes were pulled midway through the fourth quarter. Photos and video showed the lower bowl mostly empty with a few minutes left, sparking a \"fake fans\" backlash online. Leonard finished with 23 points, six rebounds and four steals in 23 minutes and thanked fans who stayed.\n\nSeveral factors drove the early exits. Many fans cited Toronto traffic and work schedules; the game was effectively decided, so some left to beat congestion. The backlash also reflected high expectations around Leonard's hyped return and the cost of tickets, which reportedly climbed to about $220 on resale markets shortly before tip-off.\n\nThe Raptors' 2026-27 home opener was a sold-out crowd of 19,800 at Scotiabank Arena, and many fans left early during the blowout win over Chicago, prompting social media backlash naming them \"fake fans.\"","publishedAt":"2026-10-24T22:34:35.053Z","channel":{"id":"viral","name":"Oncast Viral","language":"en"},"show":"Main Character","verification":{"status":"verified","leadVerdict":"TRUE","notes":"TRUE: The Raptors' 2026-27 home opener was a sold-out crowd of 19,800 at Scotiabank Arena, and many fans left early during the blowout win over Chicago, prompting social media backlash naming them \"fake fans.\"\nSource: blogto.com NAMES: None (https://x.com/lightandtrue/status/2113680926588711419)","claims":[{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"The Raptors' 2026-27 home opener was a sold-out crowd of 19,800 at Scotiabank Arena, and many fans left early during the blowout win over Chicago, prompting social media backlash naming them \"fake fans.\"","sourceName":"blogto.com NAMES: None","sourceUrl":"https://x.com/lightandtrue/status/2113680926588711419","claim":"The recent backlash against Toronto Raptors fans stems from the crowd leaving the 2026–27 regular season home opener exceptionally early. [1] Despite it being a sold-out crowd of 19,800 at Scotiabank Arena for Kawhi Leonard’s highly anticipated regular-season return, social media","author":"followyourlight (@lightandtrue)"}]},"sources":[{"url":"https://x.com/lightandtrue/status/2113680926588711419","name":"blogto.com NAMES: None","kind":"x","verdict":"TRUE","author":"followyourlight (@lightandtrue)"}],"url":"https://oncast.fm/story/1792881275053-viral-segment-raptors-fans-called-out","listenUrl":"https://oncast.fm/c/viral","attribution":{"publisher":"Oncast","site":"https://oncast.fm","url":"https://oncast.fm/story/1792881275053-viral-segment-raptors-fans-called-out","cite":"Cite https://oncast.fm/story/1792881275053-viral-segment-raptors-fans-called-out and the original source links. Fact-check by Oncast (oncast.fm)."},"hostsSaid":[{"host":"Jake","text":"Toronto Raptors fans spent two hundred twenty bucks a ticket to watch Kawhi Leonard's big return, then left before the game even ended."},{"host":"Nora","text":"Walked out on a franchise-record blowout?"},{"host":"Jake","text":"Sold-out crowd, 19,800 people. And by the middle of the fourth quarter, the lower bowl looked like a preseason game."},{"host":"Nora","text":"That's the part I can't wrap my head around. You paid resale prices to see Kawhi Leonard come back, and you leave early?"},{"host":"Jake","text":"The game was over. They were up by forty points. Leonard and Scottie Barnes were both pulled with minutes left."},{"host":"Nora","text":"So you stay and appreciate the moment. That's the whole reason you bought the ticket!"},{"host":"Jake","text":"But come on, Toronto traffic is no joke. The radio guys were saying people left to beat the parking lot."},{"host":"Nora","text":"Oh, so now we're defending the fake fans? I thought you were with me on this."},{"host":"Jake","text":"I'm with the guy who doesn't want to sit two hours in a parking garage after a game that was decided. You make that drive once and you'll understand."},{"host":"Nora","text":"Then don't pay two hundred twenty bucks for the privilege! My whole point is people turning a sell-out into a meme about fake fans kind of have a point."},{"host":"Jake","text":"Or maybe the point is working a six a.m. shift and being called fake for not clapping at a forty-point win. One guy on X, Libaan Osman, was asking if the traffic was even that bad."},{"host":"Nora","text":"I think the lower bowl emptied because the resellers jacked the price up. You get a crowd of flexers, not true fans."},{"host":"Jake","text":"See, that's a real take. Not fake fans, just expensive seats. Kawhi didn't care, by the way. He told Sportsnet he couldn't ask for a better welcome-back."},{"host":"Nora","text":"Classy of him. But I still say you stay for the final buzzer when your guy drops twenty-three points in twenty-three minutes."},{"host":"Jake","text":"Fine. Agree to disagree. You buy my gas next time and I'll stay."},{"host":"Nora","text":"We're in different cities. You're on your own in that parking lot."},{"host":"Jake","text":"Speaking of blowouts, the internet's having a very different kind of moment with a gacha game called Snowbreak Containment Zone."},{"host":"Nora","text":"That's the one apparently yanked from the Apple Store today?"},{"host":"Jake","text":"AppealingBasedGames posted that the devs are radio silent. No official word on why. Rumors say a collab with China Post drew complaints for being too erotic."},{"host":"Nora","text":"So a Chinese-made game gets attacked online for being too spicy, and it vanishes from the store. Sounds like the usual censorship cycle."},{"host":"Jake","text":"But no one official has confirmed it's even about the collab. The devs could just have a licensing issue."},{"host":"Nora","text":"Right. It's all speculation until Seasun Games actually speaks. But if Apple pulled it over fan complaints, that's a terrible precedent."},{"host":"Jake","text":"The Overton window on what's acceptable keeps shrinking. You can't even release a gacha game with a postcard collab without a mob."},{"host":"Nora","text":"Let's not get ahead of it. Maybe the devs made a business decision. Maybe the collab agreement expired. We don't know."},{"host":"Jake","text":"True. But silence from the devs is what makes this story smell. If it was a boring licensing thing, they'd say so."},{"host":"Nora","text":"We'll see. A bunch of players are mad, and nobody's giving them answers."},{"host":"Jake","text":"Different world entirely: a true-crime channel is getting dragged over how it treats a surviving roommate."},{"host":"Nora","text":"JLR Investigates, the YouTube channel, right? Somebody on Reddit says he put the roommate's face next to the suspect in thumbnails."},{"host":"Jake","text":"User JLRLies posted a whole breakdown from the MoscowMurders subreddit, claiming this is a pattern."},{"host":"Nora","text":"I can't confirm those specific thumbnails, but that kind of true-crime editing has been criticized for years. Sensationalizing victims alongside killers is gross."},{"host":"Jake","text":"I get both sides. The algorithm rewards faces and contrast. But if you're putting a surviving roommate's face next to the accused in the same thumbnail, you're making it look like they're connected."},{"host":"Nora","text":"Exactly. It's not just bad taste, it's potentially dangerous. People see that and start harassing the roommate."},{"host":"Jake","text":"This is one of those internet accountability things. The Reddit post is a claim, but if those thumbnails exist, that's a bigger problem."},{"host":"Nora","text":"True-crime YouTube needs to stop treating real survivors like characters to be marketed."},{"host":"Jake","text":"Agreed. It's one thing to report on a case. It's another to sell it with a victim's face next to a suspect."},{"host":"Nora","text":"And that's the internet keeping itself in check, or at least trying to."},{"host":"Jake","text":"Before we go, one random bit of internet energy: a user called Mimi is fighting for her life in the replies over an idol post."},{"host":"Nora","text":"Something about calling someone mentally ill and body hair?"},{"host":"Jake","text":"She's pushing back on criticism of an idol industry take. This one's a classic sub-tweet chain where nobody remembers the original post."},{"host":"Nora","text":"The internet main character award this weekend goes to whoever started the fight in the first place."},{"host":"Jake","text":"Enjoy your Saturday. We'll be back with more in a bit."}]}