Overview
- The Savannah Bananas opened the ESPY Awards on Wednesday with a three-minute choreographed performance of their first original song, led by Derek Klena and produced by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
- The act produced a polarized online response, with Barstool founder Dave Portnoy posting on X that viewers should “get the f---ing Bananas off my TV” while other users defended the team as harmless fun.
- Onstage the players wore their signature yellow uniforms, danced, lip-synced, performed backflips and included a performer on stilts before DJ Khaled introduced the rest of the ceremony.
- The Bananas are an exhibition outfit that play by a branded ruleset called Banana Ball, which enforces a two-hour limit, awards one point per inning and uses fan catches as outs, and the group has parlayed that format into sold-out stadium appearances and a large TikTok following.
- There are no reported institutional penalties from the ESPYs broadcast, but the episode highlights a broader question for broadcasters about how much theatrical spectacle belongs in mainstream sports shows and could affect future bookings of similar acts.