Charlotte Hornets pretend to give kid PS5, then swap it out for a jersey

The Charlotte Hornets proved their public relations aren't much better than their basketball skills after horribly botching a Christmas promotional skit. The Hornets mascot, Hugo, gave a 13-year-old boy a PlayStation 5 on camera. Then they went backstage. The boy's uncle, Alexei Phillips, told WJYZ-TV what happened next.

“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," Phillips said "And everybody thinks he’s joking because nobody would think he’d be taking the PS5 from the kid.”

Nobody indeed. The Hornets have a team payroll of more than $140 million. As millions of fans are commenting on social media, they are still a bargain basement embarrassment in so many ways. Here's the bizarre skit:

Making matters worse, Phillips is a season ticket holder. Way to stick it to one of your most loyal fans, Hornets. If you offered me a PS5 and then swapped it out for a Hornets jersey, I'd burn that thing so fast.

Thankfully, the story got a happy ending after the debacle went viral. The team not only returned the PS5 to him, but promised the young fan would get a VIP experience later. Phillips his nephew would have originally been stoked to get the jersey and appear on court, but the bait-and-switch understandably left a bad taste in his mouth.

The team issued an apology, saying the skit included "bad decision making and poor communication." In the era of social media, I can't fathom how the organization thought any of that was going to fly. But then, these are the eternally disappointing Charlotte Hornets. It may be best that the kid learns now what a bush league organization they are.