The New York Liberty’s Twerking Elephant Mascot Is My New Gay Obsession

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Her dance moves are like poetry in motion. Her lashes reach for the rafters while her braid brushes the floor. Even without her seafoam-green crown, she would be the queen of all she surveys, such is the force of her magnetism. I’m talking, of course, about an elephant that walks — and twerks — on two legs.

Ever since I first laid eyes on Ellie the Elephant, the New York Liberty’s mascot, she has consumed much of my waking thoughts. The date was June 16, 2022, and the Liberty were playing the Washington Mystics, but I immediately stopped caring about Natasha Howard’s powerhouse performance on the court, and started looking out for my next Ellie sighting: Would she dance again? Would she stroll the aisle next to me? Could I catch a T-Shirt touched by her hoof-hands?

While I’m a WNBA fan, I don’t live in Brooklyn, so that remains the only time I have ever personally been graced by her presence. But she lives on in my mind regardless — and I know I’m not alone in my obsessions: The New York Times style section reported on her dance moves, quoting podcast host Amelia Bane who described Ellie as “this elephant that’s just absolutely throwing ass.” The CBC called her a “flirtatious fashionista.” Cardi B said the mascot’s performance of “Bongos” “put [her] to shame.” But I feel like I need to say the quiet part out loud here: We all think Ellie’s kind of hot, right? Right? C’mon, guys, don’t leave me hanging here.

As the WNBA pre-season begins, I’m not interested in whether Caitlin Clark will lead the Indiana Fever to the playoffs for the first time since 2016, or if the Las Vegas Aces are going to three-peat. I just want to see more videos of Ellie doing her thing all over my Instagram feed. In fact, I’ve already been glued to my phone waiting for signs of life from the thick-trunked icon: Last week, she was enjoying a bagel and schmear in preparation for training camp, and earlier this week, she posted a candid photo of herself waking up, hair in rollers, stretching as she greeted the day. Before long, she’ll be back in her element, shaking it on the court. It’ll be worth the wait.

If you’re just finding out about Ellie, allow me to introduce you to some of her finest moments: There was the time she whipped her tail around to Tyla’s “Water,” her Pride Month tutu, her Barbie-inspired choreography, and, of course, the viral “Bongos” dance. You’re clicking the “follow” button already? Of course you are! She has that effect on people. Based on my single (and singular) in-person experience, the sea of jersey-clad lesbians at Barclays can’t take their eyes off her.

To be clear, animal costumes never had any effect on me before that fateful day, and they haven’t since. I fully support my furry friends, but I don’t relate to them — unless this is how it starts? In one of my favorite episodes of 30 Rock, Frank declares that he’s gay, but only for the cute coffee delivery guy. “You can’t be gay for just one person,” Liz chides him. So if liking Ellie makes me a furry, I’m willing to accept the consequences of that label, if not the cost. (I did some Googling and I don’t think I can afford a fursuit, I’m sorry.)

Real-life pro athlete power couple Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird will produce the series.

Maybe my fascination with Ellie was so immediate because I had never been exposed to a mascot with so much panache. My beloved home team, the Seattle Storm, is represented by Doppler, an amorphous red blob who looks like a Muppet that went through the microwave. No shade, but it’s telling that Doppler has fewer than 600 followers on Instagram while Ellie — who was only introduced in 2021, replacing some sad, floppy-eared dog no one cares about anymore — boasts over 14,000. I don’t think you post numbers like that without some thirst behind them.

The comments sections on Ellie videos are, mercifully, mostly respectful. People tend to post a lot of fire emojis and gush about how much she “ate” on the dance floor. And I want them to stay that way: underneath the suit, after all, a very talented dancer is sweating their ass off for a living. Ellie herself doesn’t need to deal with any erotic confusion she might cause for, say, a culture editor at a queer website whose life has been upended by her existence.

So I will remain her respectful admirer from afar — and ultimately, it’s better off that way. Lesbianism, after all, is all about yearning, even when you’re yearning for an anthropomorphized elephant.

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Originally Appeared on them.