A New York Knicks fan was caught on video stealing a specially painted trash can and dumping its contents onto the street during the team's championship parade in Manhattan on Thursday.
The Knicks held an open-top bus parade through the streets after ending a 53-year wait to win an NBA championship. Team owner James Dolan was joined by WAGs, celebrities and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as the parade wound through downtown Manhattan.
Millions of fans lined the route dressed in blue and orange, and so were the trash cans along the Canyon of Heroes, which had been repainted in the team's colors to mark the occasion.
Woman filmed emptying trash can onto sidewalk
In a video that went viral on social media, a woman wearing a blue Knicks t-shirt and an orange fisherman beanie was seen picking up one of the painted receptacles and tipping a mountain of rubbish, including spilled beverages, onto the sidewalk. She then walked away carrying the empty can as a souvenir.
Passersby watched in disgust as the trash spilled across the pavement, and fans on social media reacted with fury.
"She should be shamed," New York fan account Knicks Muse posted on X. "Making life miserable for a city worker because you liked the colors of a trash can. Loser."
Another account wrote: "No conscious thought about ethics, morality or society. Just 'I want this' ogre mentality."
"She needs to be fined for littering," a third user claimed. "Stop acting like you don't have home training." A fourth added: "It should be charged!! Littering and theft."
"Lol these the people that give NY a bad look," wrote another. "Shoutout to the sanitation that had to take care of this, you the real champion."
One commenter compared the incident to the postgame habits of Japanese soccer fans, who customarily clean up their sections of the stadium after matches. "That is so disgusting! Contrast that with the Japanese team's fans cleaning up their entire section after the game," they wrote. "And we wonder why the rest of the world thinks what they think about Americans."
Sanitation department calls act 'incredibly stupid'
The New York City Department of Sanitation condemned the woman's actions in a statement given to the New York Post. "Dumping trash onto the street and stealing public property for your own personal use are both illegal, antisocial behaviors, and not what New Yorkers do," the department said. "On top of all that, doing both on camera is incredibly stupid."
The NYPD is reportedly aware of the incident but has not received any complaints.
Fight breaks out between rival fans
The trash can incident was not the only chaotic moment from Thursday's celebrations. Two women were filmed fighting for position before the parade began, after one climbed down awkwardly from a streetlight and forced the other out of the way.
Words were exchanged before the fan who had climbed down threw the other woman to the floor. That woman jumped back up and pulled her rival's shorts down.
Rather than back down, the woman held onto the streetlight and began twerking as the crowd shouted in shock. The other fan repeatedly tried to pull off more of her clothing and at one point appeared to throw a punch, which the woman absorbed without letting go of the pole.
Tyler Kolek stopped by police mid-parade
Elsewhere on the route, Knicks guard Tyler Kolek left the team bus to join fans on the ground. The 25-year-old ran along the parade route high-fiving fans while holding a Michelob Ultra in one hand.
Kolek got past several stunned officers before two police officers stopped and grabbed him. One officer shook his head and appeared to say "no," while another turned him around and pointed for him to leave the area.
A man wearing a "New York or Nowhere" t-shirt intervened, telling the officers that Kolek was in fact a Knicks player. The officers released him, and Kolek, looking unimpressed, shouted something back as he continued jogging through the streets.
Kolek later joked about the encounter on X, writing: "I swear I'm on the team bro."
