WARNING: This article does not use any harsh language, but some of the linked pages may. Click at your own risk.
Recently, the prominent e-sports team Evil Geniuses (EG) ended a short-lived contract with a player named Orb, who was scheduled to cast their next tournament, the Evil Geniuses Master Cup Series VII. Orb was dismissed from the contract after some of his previous games were uncovered, where he used a racial slur insensitivity, and failed to take responsibility. The StarCraft community has all sorts of varying opinions on the matter, and it has become a very contentious issue.
The initial controversy started when a screenshot was posted on reddit of Orb making rude remarks (including the slur) after losing a game. Most of the comments on the screenshot were rather disgusted. Orb, relatively unknown previous to his participation with EG, made a post about how he didn’t say those things and it was, in fact, his friend playing on his account. This was suspicious for many reasons; including the fact that he claimed the reason his friend was playing was that they weren’t that interested in StarCraft, but at the time his ‘friend’ was playing at a Master’s league level with the same setup and hotkeys as Orb. Additionally, some commenters added that he had been banned from Team Liquid’s featured streamer list for his language previously, and some people noted that when he streamed during the StarCraft II beta he often spoke this way. After an uproar on reddit and Team Liquid, some people called for a boycott of EG and complained to EG’s corporate sponsors. Evil Genius’ CEO Alexander Garfield then ended the team’s relationship with Orb. Orb released a statement apologizing (safe for work) for his language, but many people still fault him for sticking to his story of his friend playing on his account, a story that’s hard to swallow.
