{"id":149173,"date":"2025-09-11T14:53:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T14:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/149173\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T14:53:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T14:53:07","slug":"wnba-mascot-ellie-the-elephant-honors-mary-j-blige-with","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/149173\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA Mascot Ellie the Elephant Honors Mary J. Blige With &#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.complex.com\/sports\/a\/bernadette-giacomazzo\/wnba-game-halted-by-fan-throwing-a-very-nsfw-object-at-players\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WNBA&#8217;s<\/a> New York Liberty game against the Washington Mystics on September 9 had more than basketball on the schedule. <\/p>\n<p>At halftime, Ellie the Elephant stepped into the spotlight with a tribute to Mary J. Blige that had the Barclays Center crowd pulling out their phones.<\/p>\n<p>Ellie rolled onto the court in full Blige-inspired fashion. The mascot sported knee-high boots, a cheetah-print outfit, and a platinum blonde wig, all nods to the R&amp;B legend\u2019s signature looks over the years. <\/p>\n<p>The details were locked in, but the performance was what sold it. Backed by a squad of dancers, Ellie delivered choreography to a mix of Blige tracks, including \u201cBe Happy\u201d and \u201cJust Fine.\u201d Fans quickly caught on to the mascot\u2019s repeated take on the famous \u201cMary Strut,\u201d which Blige has made a concert staple.<\/p>\n<p>The reaction was immediate. Cheers filled the arena while Instagram lit up with clips of the routine. Essence posted footage from courtside, and the comment section turned into a running review of Ellie\u2019s moves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEllie gotta be protected at all costs. This is legendary,\u201d one fan wrote. Another user noted, \u201cThat HAS to be a Mary fan, they nailed it!\u201d A third added a twist with, \u201cMasked Singer episode on!?\u2026 Mary, is that you?\u201d The energy online matched the crowd inside the arena, with fans treating the moment like a crossover between sports and music.<\/p>\n<p>Blige hasn\u2019t weighed in yet, but the tribute was unmistakable. From the fashion choices to the choreography, the halftime set doubled as both entertainment and homage.<\/p>\n<p>Ellie the Elephant has only been around since 2021, but the mascot has already become a fixture for Liberty fans. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/liberty.wnba.com\/ellie-the-elephant\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">According to the team<\/a>, Ellie was designed to embody traits tied to both elephants and the franchise itself: strength, wisdom, determination, loyalty, and resilience. In practice, Ellie has become a crowd favorite, balancing playful antics with performances that connect to New York culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The WNBA&#8217;s New York Liberty game against the Washington Mystics on September 9 had more than basketball on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-149173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}