The Second Suspension in the new League
Two weeks into regular season play and the Overwatch League(OWL) has issued it’s second suspension. This time the recipient is Félix Lengyel of the Dallas Fuel. Lengyel is better known by has gaming moniker xQc. The 22 year old is a well known tank player and one of the stars of the Dallas team. xQc previously played on the Canadian national team at the 2017 Overwatch World Cup and was named the TMobile MVP for his performance in that tournament. Like many of the professional Overwatch players xQc streams games regularly in his free time.
The suspension comes after a comment made by xQc during a personal stream. The comment referenced a fellow tank player on the opposing OWL team the Houston Outlaws, Austin “Muma” Wilmot. The Outlaws had just handed the Fuel a 4-0 defeat. xQc made a comment in reference to another from Muma saying:
“”No, you didn’t smoke shit. Shut your fucking mouth and go back and suck a fat cock. He would like it.” Muma responded on his own stream saying:
“Damn, he’s homophobic, too? Shocking. I don’t care.” xQc later apologized to Muma for the comment on twitter.
By Friday afternoon the Fuel were aware of the incident. The team posted on their twitter stating, among other things, that xQc would not be participating in that evenings match against the London Spitfire. More details came just before the match, this time from the OWL itself. In a concise news post the league announced that xQc would be suspended for the next four matches. Additionally he will suffer a 2,000 dollar fine. The post said the penalties were “for violating the Overwatch League Code of Conduct during his individual stream on Thursday evening.” the Dallas Fuel also issued their own statement on twitter. This statement expressed support for the actions taken by the League and adding that Dallas would be suspending xQc from the remainder of Stage One play.
This is the second suspension to come from the OWL. The first being Philadelphia Fusions player Su-Min “Sado” Kim last month. xQc has, however, received multiple bans from the game previously.
The Dallas Fuel went on to give a much stronger showing in their loss Friday against the London Spitfire. This loss will make their record 0-4 and place them at the bottom of the table alongside the Shanghai Dragons.