Katy Perry’s sharks, unicorns latest fans to land Yankees tickets (pics)
On Tuesday, it was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. On Wednesday, a foursome featuring Katy Perry’s Super Bowl Halftime Show sharks and a pair of unicorns became the latest benefactors of John Oliver’s quest to have “riff-raff” occupy seats located in Yankee Stadium’s Legends Suites section.
Two riff raff fans in unicorn outfits, 2 dressed as sharks, in 2nd row of Lonn Trost's "premium seats" to 3B side of yday's. @iamjohnoliver
— Peter Botte (@PeterBotte) April 6, 2016
Also, I believe the 2 females in the shark costumes are dressed as Katy Perry's left and right sharks. pic.twitter.com/azidY10Nop
— Peter Botte (@PeterBotte) April 6, 2016
Two of the fans who landed the tickets courtesy of Oliver, the host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight,” were Hannah Lee and Michelle Munera, who came dressed as unicorns. The sharks were identified as Ashley Lewis and Jennifer Sedgley.
@LastWeekTonight #IHaveNeverSatInAPremiumLocation we’ll wear these to the #wednesday game! pic.twitter.com/WBJjSq3m1p
— Hannah Lee (@hannahsungmi) April 5, 2016
Thanks @LastWeekTonight were having a blast! @iamjohnoliver pic.twitter.com/8aO3lP6fJB
— Hannah Lee (@hannahsungmi) April 6, 2016
“We found out this morning and it’s been awesome,” Lee told the New York Daily News. “Crowd is loving us.”
@hannahsungmi thanks for photo tonight! pic.twitter.com/0ET9N8GC7o
— Patrick Duffy (@duffyp2) April 7, 2016
Oliver began his crusade against the New York Yankees organization in response to the team’s new policy that prohibits fans from printing tickets out to games on their own.
The backlash against said policy began in earnest after Yankees Chief Operating Officer Lonn Trust said the following in the interview:
“If you buy a ticket in a very premium location and pay a substantial amount of money, it’s not that we don’t want that fan to sell it, but that fan is sitting there having paid a substantial amount of money for their ticket and a fan picks it up for a buck and a half and sits there, it frustrates the purchaser of the full amount.
“And quite frankly … the fan, you know, may be someone who has never sat in a premium location. So that’s a frustration to our existing fan base.”
In response to the policy, Oliver procured tickets to the Yankees’ first three home games and offered them up for 25 cents apiece. To win the tickets, all viewers had to do was tweet Oliver images of what they intended to wear to the game along with the hashtag, #IHaveNeverSatInAPremiumLocation, and promise to wear the get-ups to the game.
“You must dress like you’ve never sat in a premium location before,” he said during Sunday’s show.
Oliver, in his scathing commentary, railed against the Yankees organization for its purported ability to “continue to find ways to look like the biggest elitist a–h— in all of sports.”