What the SHELL? WNBA’s newest mascot is a non-binary turtle with pronouns

BS BULLETIN:

The Toronto Tempo unveiled two mascots: Dez the snapping turtle and Dot the Arctic hare.
The team’s official bio identifies Dez with “she/they” pronouns and Dot with “she/her.”
The reveal came against the Indiana Fever — right in the middle of the WNBA’s continuing culture war over sex and women’s sports.

Just when you thought the culture wars couldn’t possibly claim another innocent victim, please spare a thought for the Canadian snapping turtle.

The Toronto Tempo, the WNBA’s new Canadian franchise, introduced its first two mascots this week: Dot, an Arctic hare, and Dez, a Borealis Blue snapping turtle from Muskoka, Ontario.

So far, so good.

Then we got to the biographies. The Tempo’s official announcement identifies Dez as “she/they” and Dot as “she/her.” Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the turtle has pronouns.

Dez is described by the team as calm, clever and “always thinking a few steps ahead.” The name is derived from “decibel” because Dez loves music and DJs in her — or their — spare time. Oh, and Dez’s “secret talent is snapping.”

At least THAT part remains biologically consistent.

WNBA team Toronto Tempo unveils new non-binary mascot with She/They pronouns.

Dez the mascot, who uses She/They pronouns, identifies as a “borealis blue” snapping turtle from Muskoka. pic.twitter.com/i1lFdfzWPO

— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) August 21, 2026

Dot, meanwhile, is an Arctic hare whose name comes from Toronto’s “T-Dot” nickname. She’s the energetic half of the duo, while Dez is the more deliberate one — essentially a modern spin on the tortoise and the hare. “From the beginning, we wanted our mascots to feel distinctly Tempo — rooted in who we are as a Canadian team,” chief marketing officer Whitney Bell explained. “Dez and Dot have completely different personalities, but they’re better together,” Bell said, describing one mascot as knowing when to slow things down while the other cranks up the energy.

The mascots debuted Tuesday during Toronto’s game against the Indiana Fever — a particularly interesting opponent considering the WNBA’s continuing fight over transgender athletes.

Fever guard Sophie Cunningham has become one of the league’s most outspoken players on the issue, arguing that women’s professional basketball should remain exclusively female. That made the timing of a mascot rollout prominently featuring “she/they” pronouns impossible for critics not to notice, although there’s no evidence the Tempo scheduled the reveal as a response to Cunningham.

Reaction has ranged from enthusiastic to utterly bewildered. Some Toronto residents questioned something considerably more basic than Dez’s gender identity: Why a turtle?

“A turtle and a hare doesn’t make me think of Toronto or Canada, so that’s a weird choice to me,” one Toronto resident told NOW Toronto. Another suggested that if the team really wanted a distinctly Canadian mascot, a beaver might have made more sense.

Others love the mascots, and LGBT outlets have enthusiastically embraced Dez. Them described the character as a “butch snapping turtle icon,” while PinkNews celebrated the arrival of a turtle with “she/they pronouns.” So perhaps Toronto’s marketing department accomplished exactly what marketing departments dream about: Everybody is talking about the mascot.

MY QUICK TAKE

I have questions.

Not angry questions.

Turtle questions.

Who determined Dez’s pronouns?

Did somebody ask? Was there a turtle gender-reveal party? Did Dez fill out paperwork? And most importantly, what precisely distinguishes a she/they snapping turtle from a traditional she/her snapping turtle?

I grew up believing turtles had three primary responsibilities: Swim. Eat. Don’t get run over crossing the road. Apparently we’ve been underestimating them.

I’ll see myself out.