Royals will discontinue ‘Player or Primate’ feature on Crown Vision board
A new feature that was played between innings of the Royals’ Crown Vision board during Wednesday’s game drew criticism from fans and won’t be returning.
The “Player or Primate” contest starts with an extreme close-up of hair, and fans are left to guess if it is a picture of a human or an animal.
The Colorado Rockies did it a year ago, and this will give you an idea of how the game is played:
Rockies are playing "Player or Primate" on the big screen ... pic.twitter.com/cXpES70G5k
— Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) August 22, 2015
These types of features are often copied by other teams in pro sports, whether it be an air-guitar contest or trying to determine the craziest fan. Last year, a “Lion King” cam was all the rage.
Those segments are generally well-received. The “Player or Primate” was not.
@Royals I was at the game last night. Player or primate has to go before you're headlining a story on CNN. It's offensive.
— Denise Riedel (@kansasmom63) April 13, 2017
Player or primate? Are u for real @Royals? #notcool
— David Snodgrass (@webdevgeek) April 13, 2017
Yo @Royals that whole "player or primate" thing on the big screen is racist and a bad pr move just sayin
— Jesse Black (@JesseKBlack) April 13, 2017
.@Royals @MillerLite I think that this new "Player or Primate" in-game segment could turn bad, quick.
— Gene Willis (@GeneWillis) April 13, 2017
Yeah this "Player or Primate" isn't cool. #royals I'd recommend never showing that again
— Shellie (@shelliebe7) April 13, 2017
The Royals didn’t hear directly from unhappy fans, but the team thought it best to stop using the segment.
“We were not happy with the results, and the feature will not be shown again,” said Toby Cook, the Royals’ vice president of publicity. “It was supposed to run a handful of times this year, but we didn’t like what we saw and it won’t run again.”
Pete Grathoff: 816-234-4330, @pgrathoff
This story was originally published April 13, 2017 at 1:57 PM.