"Bring Ya A**": Explore Minnesota grabs Wolves star's postgame comment as unofficial slogan

• It's a reference to Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards' postgame comment to TNT, in which Ant encouraged analyst Charles Barkley to get his butt back to Minnesota.

Driving the news: Explore Minnesota seized on the comment in several social media posts.

Inside the room: Spokesperson Chris Morgan told Axios that several Explore Minnesota staffers watched the comment live on Sunday night.

• Immediately, "That whole exchange just rang an alarm: 'We have to do something here,'" Morgan said.
• The comment fit a theme of an existing campaign that seeks to elevate "authentic" recommendations about the state, Morgan added.

The intrigue: As the comment went viral online, a comedian named Jon Savitt told Axios he bought the domain name BringYaAss.com and set it up to redirect visitors to Explore Minnesota's website.

Zoom in: The agency sanitized Edwards' words with asterisks shaped like Minnesota's Etoile-du-Nord eight-pointed star symbol.

• Morgan noted that as a state agency, the marketing, digital, and communications teams needed to go up the chain for permission.
• Thought bubble: Given Gov. Tim Walz's own X feed, they might not need to hard-sell this move.

What's next: This may not be the last you see of the unofficial slogan.

• Morgan said the agency is talking to the Timberwolves, searching for new ways to capitalize on the remark.