Taimou, right, after a match at the Overwatch LeaguePhoto: Robert Paul (Blizzard Esports)
According to an ESPN report, someone filed a support ticket with Blizzard after Overwatch League player Taimou called another player a “fucking faggot kid” on a Twitch stream on January 23.
The Overwatch League have yet to comment publicly, while his team, the Dallas Fuel, sent this statement to Compete:
In regards to the Dallas Fuel we do recognise that our players and all those in the Overwatch League are constantly under the microscope. Contact from ESPN is the first I’m aware of receiving related to what you reference below.
As an organisation, we strive to provide players with advice and resources to help them balance professionalism needed to compete at a league level with the individual personalities that may have gained them popularity or their own followings. As you’ve seen recently, we certainly do look into any situation that goes against a code of conduct befitting the team and/or league.
This isn’t the Fuel’s first time dealing with one of their players using language like this on Twitch. When Taimou’s teammate told gay rival to “suck a fat cock,” the Fuel suspended him rather than dithering about players being “under the microscope.”
According to ESPN, the person who filed the report on Taimou was told that “Due to privacy/security concerns, we will not be able to discuss specifics like how we investigate these or what actions we will be taking from here. Rest assured, however, this has not been ignored.” Despite that claim, the Overwatch League hasn’t commented publicly on the situation, and if the Fuel suspended him — he last played on February 21 — they haven’t said so publicly.
The timeline of who knew, if it was even someone who worked in the OWL department of Blizzard, and how long they knew for is unclear from Wolf’s reporting.
On the stream in question, Taimou later said that he was “accidentally toxic” and “didn’t even mean it.”
However, this is esports. Nearly as soon as ESPN’s Jacob Wolf broke the story, his lengthy history of using slurs like “cunt,” “fag,” “nigga,” and more on Twitter became clear. Users were screengrabbing Wolf’s old tweets as he was deleting them on Sunday afternoon. Here’s a small sampling:
Screenshot: Via
Screenshot: Via
Screenshot: Via
Electro.. What? ???? pic.twitter.com/IMeKcjLJ5e
— Haksu (@HaksuGG) March 4, 2018
(Interestingly, while Wolf deleted most of his “faggot” and “nigga” tweets, he’s still left up about ten that use “cunt.” Either he’s not aware of them, or has decided that there’s a hierarchy of slurs.)
Of course, Wolf’s use of those words doesn’t make his reporting on the story any less valid. Taimou did call someone a “fucking faggot kid” on Twitch, someone at Blizzard confirmed that they knew about it, and the OWL and Fuel said nothing about it publicly.
Taimou saying that is bad; Wolf using those words from 2013-2015 is also bad. The Overwatch League has yet to comment or publish its code of conduct; ESPN has not replied to a request for comment.
Update, March 6: An ESPN spokesperson told us that “We are aware and looking into it.”
Update, March 7: Wolf tweeted out an apology.
— Jacob Wolf (@JacobNWolf) March 6, 2018
Eric Van Allen contributed reporting.
Comments
44 responses to “Overwatch Pro Called An Opponent A “F*****g F****t”: ESPN Reporter Who Broke Story Immediately Caught With Racist And Sexist Tweets”
I get how calling someone a faggot or saying or typing the word nigga is bad.
But i don’t think cunt is a slur. It’s just a swear word like fuck or shit?
It’s a far more offensive word in the US than here in Australia, I think.
Haha oh okay I see.
Reminds me watching the Simpson’s when I was a lot younger and Bart said ‘hell’ or ‘damn’ and it was really frowned on
I can confirm. Having recently moved to Canada, I very quickly learned that people lost their shit when you drop C bombs anywhere north of Mexico. Over here, it’s probably one of the worst slurs you can throw out.
Quite. This is the exact reason I use it with wreckless abandon. I enjoy seeing people recoil and dissolve from a sound that came from my mouth. “Aghast! How bourish! My delicate ears!”
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words… Words can break the world.
Taimou also called someone a “fucking autistic nigger” over a year ago, if you google the phrase + Taimou, you will find clips of it.
Whats wrong with cunt? its a term of endearment in Australia.
Try calling someone’s girlfriend that and see how much of a term of endearment it is.
It’s almost like the context within which words are said is relevant to their meaning and intent…
There is no context in which that word can be used where it’s okay to use.
What if your best mate Dazzas girlfriend Shazza has just shotgunned a can of export in one hit and you want to let her know she’s a mad cunt?
Yeah, nah mate, there is.
I think you mean “nah, yeah” in this instance.
Actually, I think he’s right. You could say ‘no, there actually is’, or ‘actually yes, there is’.
So, you’re both right 🙂
It’s also important that the context that these words have been used towards someone is going to greatly affect how they feel toward that word. As much as we pride ourselves in Australia that we use the word cunt as a term of affection, I know enough people that have been called that disparagingly, often in tandem with the threat of physical or sexual violence, that you can’t fault anyone finding that word off-limits.
In other words, context is important.
Damnit! I missed some key words. I meant to say “It’s also important that the context that these words have been used towards someone in the past.
Also, I wasn’t disagreeing with you at all, just expanding on your point.
ive called my male friend’s girlfriends madcunts plenty of times, its a term of endearment and if you get offended thats your problem anyway. the world keeps turning
Mate, id say you’re the one being a cunt at the moment.
Taimou slipped up, happens in gaming, spesh when you’ve just killed the little c@%t whos murdered you 3 times in a row. Doesn’t excuse him though, and “Faggot kid” does feel a tad like targeted hate. I’ve never used race or sexual preference as a way to rip into someone, I don’t really get that. Nothing wrong with the C-bomb though.
Just because you don’t consider it to be an insult or a slur or an absolutely disgusting word to use doesn’t mean everyone thinks the same as you.
I’m not adverse to swearing, but that’s one word that I refuse to use.
It’s funny how you have essentially admonished people for using the C-word, and then turned around saying that you are not adverse to swearing… Like, where you draw the line is correct and everyone else that doesn’t follow that is wrong. By that logic, you don’t follow my preferences and therefore you are wrong.
I don’t swear and i find it completely unnecessary and unwarranted, especially when the English vocabulary has plenty of insults that don’t require any vulgarity.
In saying that, the only time I actually arc up about any of it is when used as a direct insult.
So yes, to agree with another person up there, the context in which words are used are entirely relevant to their meaning.
Completely unrelated to the story, but curse/swear words, their origins, usage and evolution are the most fascinating part of language!!
Insults that aren’t vulgar or even that insulting nowadays, carried massive weight in their day.
If I was to call somebody a buffoon today they would prob laugh at me, back in the day it meant pistols at dawn.
Still, props on your personal choice.
Thats fair. Even so I’m sure you can agree it’s somewhat less offensive than calling someone a faggot or nigga?
I think if you want to swear and do it in a way everyone can enjoy just google shakespearian insults and use those, they wont know what hit them
I understand that some people find some words more offensive than others. But where I would draw a line is irrelevant, everyone has a line that is different. Hypothetically, if a drew my line at (g) and someone else drew the line at (d), then when conversing with that person, my line would then have to move to meet theirs out of risk of offending them. So then, why bother having that line if I have to actively think about where to draw it with each individual interaction. Better off just not doing it… Although one time I did offend someone by not swearing… Which I found weird..
Personally, I find swearing offensive, as stated above, but did you offend me with your example? Not at all. Why? Because context is king.
Neither of those examples are curse/swear words. Apple’s and oranges.
They are actually, as they are deemed “Socially unacceptable” and “offensive”.
“averse”
Errrbody got skeletons. File it under “I was younger and dumber” and then slap his hand for recent statement and move on. We don’t even publicly shame actual criminals, why should we shame a guy that plays computer games for a living
Yeeaaahhh… except he wasn’t younger and dumber this year. He’s continuing to be a big mouthed idiot who calls people nasty names and that’s bad for business.
Technically he was younger though.
Things that make me angry: witch hunting through people’s social media history. Just….why? Why are people that petty? Ok so the guy’s used dumb language in the past. Who hasn’t? Maybe it’d be relevant if he was still using that language, but this was 3+ years ago. He’s obviously changed, like most of us do. Are they really that petty to put his old words on a pedestal and loudly proclaim he in the present is a morally reprehensible human being because of them? It’s like these people are desperate for moral superiority and not just jump at, but actively seek out any chance to tear anyone down to satiate their insecurity.
In conclusion; I hate the internet. *shakes fist at cloud*
But he’s still doing it. Which is why all of this is coming up now.
Going back through his history isn’t trying to dig up some shit from a decade ago, it’s someone being shitty right now and saying “Oh but it was an accident!”. Naturally people are going to go and look at his history for context and in this case they are finding that he hasn’t changed. He was an abusive dickhead in the past and it continues to this day.
Just to clear up some confusion cause I think we’re talking about two different guys.
Taimou is the Dallas Fuel player who made the recent comments.
Jacob Wolf is the ESPN reporter who broke the story.
The reporter is the one whose tweets everyone’s been trawling through, the ones featured in the article.
My mistake!
They look similar, so I mentally fused them.
It can be a good indication of someone’s character. It’s their words, in a public forum.
People and times change though. I know my own language differs significantly from what it was in old posts floating around from around a decade ago, it’s awkward to read them back again. But that was just normal for that world I was living in, as opposed to this one now. And I’m sure another ten years down the track I’ll be equally embarrassed at the kinds of words I flippantly throw about now 😛
I’d like to say that eSports has an image problem but I think it’s more a player problem. That’s not to say there aren’t good eggs but not often than not, the story is about how some player was racist, misogynist, rude, mouthy, childish or just generally a rubbish human being. Taimou especially can’t seem to stop being caught out, who else remembers the ‘Korean presenter’s pantsus’ episode that lead to him being known as Thighmou?
Almost as if gaming has a toxic culture that pervades all levels…
people keep pushing ‘Esports’ like its some ind of real professional sport but in reality its just a bunch of shit talking gamers.
If it wants to be recognised it should deal with guys like this the same as it would an pro sport person.
If sports players get raked over the coals for bad behaviour in social media, why do esports players get away with being complete idiots. It the industry wants esports to be taken seriously, the managers of these teams need to give the players a kick up the arse.
The levels of exposure are massively different. If its a big sport, eleventy five media outlets are going to be telling the story, while if its a smaller sport, maybe one will.
I remember an Australian swimming championships a few years ago where Emily Seabohm had a personalised swimcap. With C-Bomb instead of her proper surname, because that’s her nickname even within the community. Fun play on words, no more, but the media reaction meant she didn’t wear it the rest of the meet.
And you heard nothing more of it, mostly because that despite Australia’s love affair with swimming, the exposure still isn’t massive.
While esports are growing, their exposure is still relatively low as well, so the bulk of the general population just wont care about any controversy. That should change as it grows, but for now, its no worse than a local footballer doing something stupid.
he (and other) do know that it is somehow worse that he said those things and didnt mean them? that means those words actually live in his head and he let them out unconsciously, he ties those words to frustration and negative emotions.
I know the first words that pop in my head in the heat of online battle, and it has never ever been racist, sexist and the like. Get upset at the players actions not player as a person.
Lol