South Korean Overwatch Pro Players Benched
Today, we learned that two professional Overwatch players have been suspended for 2-months after information surfaced that the two players were engaging in online relationships with multiple female fans. This is apparently a big no-no in the South Korea Overwatch pro community.
Popular South Korean Overwatch team “Lunatic-Hai” banned players Lee Tae Jun and Geum “Dean” Dong-geun from participating in OGN’s Apex Season 2 which is one of the biggest Overwatch leagues in the world. They are also suspended from “all other events” for the next two months because the players were caught in multiple online affairs with their fans, according to a Reddit post discussing the news.
A team rep from “Lunatic-Hai” said in a statement translated from Korean:
“Both of them have done something they should not be doing as esports players and we have taken steps to prevent recurrence”Â
According to reports the player/fan relationships were revealed by one of the involved fans, who posted about her relationship with Tae Jun on a message boards. This led to the revelation that Tae Jun was involved with at least three possibly unsuspecting women. He initially denied these accusations which only made matters worse when the truth came out.
Separately, Dean’s fans revealed that he was having affairs with multiple women, and even set up a Twitter account under the name @DunggeonVictims posting proof of his philanderous chats and requests for photos.
As reported in Mashable, Some fans consider this behavior to be taking advantage of these women and the players’ fanbase, while others were were also personally upset to learn that the players were speaking this way with multiple women without their apparent knowledge. Some Redditors noted that, culturally, commitment in relationships in South Korea is considered very important, which could be why the players’ actions were met with what others saw as a swift and damning response by their managers to protect their brand and deter players from doing this in the future.
Both Dean and Tae Jun apologized for their actions alongside the statement from Lunatic-Hai.
Here is Tae Jun’s:
“Hello. This is Lee Tae Jun from Lunatic-Hai.
I am writing to you apologize for the incidents that are being discussed on several community websites. I did contact couple of fans through social media during the past few months. First of all, I would like to deeply apologize to the people that have exchanged messages with me. My adolecent actions have caused deep hurt, and I truly apologize for them. I would also like to apologize to my fans who are hurt by my actions. I know my fans have genuinely cheered for me, so no words can describe how sorry I am. I am very sorry. And I would also like to apologize to my teammates and staff. I am very sorry. I’ve learned a lot from this incident. I am going to take time off to reflect and think deeply about this. I promise that this will never happen again and will be cautious with my actions.
Once again, I am very sorry.”
And here is Dean’s:
“Hello. This is Geum Dong-geun from Lunatic-Hai.
I contacted my fans and asked them to meet privately and asked for photos. I confess that I did this many times before being caught. It’s an action that was not appropriate as a professional gamer and I am embarrassed and regretting this as I knew contacting fans through social media continuously does not look good for the staff and teammates. I always thought that I shouldn’t do this, and is not appropriate for my position. But I couldn’t hold myself back and resulted in this.I deeply regret contacting fans privately several times and sorry about my actions causing harm to the fans who love us and my teammates. When I first got caught, I didn’t think it was a big deal, but as I am writing this apology, I am realizing how naive I was.
I am sorry to realize the wrong things I did while writing this apology.”
Although the two players were suspended from playing, Lunatic-Hai has two substitute players to stand in for them.