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Chris Wilcox’ Fine for Giving Obscene Gesture to ‘Kiss Cam’ Latest Sign That In-Arena Gag Is Not Funny Anymore

It all starts so innocently. In a running gag at several NBA arenas, and a near-nightly event at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, the video board begins showing happy-looking couples on the “Kiss Cam” as some classic love ditty plays over the loudspeakers, in an attempt to get the fans to kiss.

The routine is predictable. Start with a safe-looking couple to get a quick smooch, try a pair of fans who are clearly on a first date or “just friends” to get an awkward chuckle from the crowd, and then find some middle-aged lovebirds who can show everyone that love never grows old.

All this is followed by the piece de resistance: Show two players on the opposing team.

Get it? They are both guys! And it’s a Kiss Cam! So they are supposed to kiss! LOL! ROFLMAO! It’s hilarious!

It is so stupid.

Maybe the gag is funny the first time, but by the second time you realize it’s trite and from then on it just feels forced. Chris Wilcox has been in the league for 11 years, so the Celtics’ veteran big man has seen it all — including about a hundred versions of the Kiss Cam, presumably. So when Wilcox and Jared Sullinger were shown together on the video screen, Wilcox made a hand gesture that the league deemed obscene, and on Sunday hit him with a fine.

“Boston Celtics forward-center Chris Wilcox has been fined $25,000 for making an obscene gesture during a game, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President Basketball Operations,” read a league statement. “Wilcox’s actions occurred during a timeout with 8:47 remaining in the [fourth] period of the Celtics [sic] 95-94 loss to the 76ers on Friday, Dec. 7.”

This is not the first time Wilcox has been the target of this unfunny joke. Back in March — in Wilcox’ final game of the 2011-12 season before the Celtics discovered a heart abnormality that forced him to miss the rest of the season — Wilcox and Brandon Bass got Kiss Cammed in Philly. Consider the video of that incident, which appears below, to be compensation for not being able to track down video of the gesture that got Wilcox fined.

As mentioned, the whole thing is dumb.

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