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Did Apple 'steal' Utah Jazz 'TakeNote' hashtag?
Utah Jazz fans display a TIFO during prior to the game against the Dallas Mavericks during game six of the first round for the 2022 NBA playoffs at Vivint Arena. Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports

Did Apple 'steal' Utah Jazz 'TakeNote' hashtag?

The Utah Jazz may have encountered a unique off-the-court problem ahead of Wednesday's regular-season opener against the Denver Nuggets. 

As explained by the Associated Press (h/t ESPN), Apple CEO Tim Cook used the "TakeNote" hashtag commonly linked with the Jazz for a promotional tweet on Tuesday. That Twitter hashtag is now immediately followed by an Apple logo emoji, which indicates the social-media website associates the phrase with the tech giant rather than the NBA franchise:

The KSL Sports website either seriously or jokingly suggested Apple stole the hashtag from the Jazz and did so without the team's knowledge. 

"That was weird. I saw that when you all did," Jazz owner Ryan Smith said about the situation during a Tuesday news conference. "Got to look into it."

According to the AP, the Jazz began using #TakeNote as far back as 2016 and have the phrase on official merchandise and on displays at Vivint Arena, their playing home. Meanwhile, the KSL Sports piece seems to show a now-deleted tweet from the Jazz shared earlier on Tuesday that was captioned: "well, this is awkward." 

The team has since addressed the matter via a different tweet: 

For what it's worth, the Jazz still had #TakeNote in their Twitter bio as of Tuesday evening. However, KSL's Ben Anderson wrote the club has a "yet-to-be-announced hashtag" planned for some point presumably in the near future. 

The AP mentioned that Cook has been spotted sitting courtside with Smith for at least one Jazz game. Anderson added the two have previously worked together to raise funds for Encircle, a local non-profit organization.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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