San Francisco Shock support Park ‘Viol2t’ Min-ki has been suspended for one Overwatch League game and fined by his team after evidence emerged of toxic behaviour.
Over the last few weeks, the South Korean player has been accused on a couple of occasions of using inappropriate and toxic language during ranked Overwatch matches and livestreams, including telling a player to kill themself and, most recently, telling a teammate he was a “retard” and “braindead” in game chat.
In a post to the OWL team’s Discord channel, Shock general manager Chris Chung announces that as a result of Viol2t’s “out of line” behaviour he will miss the next match against Houston Outlaws. He has also been fined, but the exact amount isn’t stated. Chung says the team will continue to work with Viol2t to “ensure this is the last incident of its kind” and will monitor Viol2t’s streams and matches closely.
There was also a follow-up accusation by streamer ‘Hoshizora’ – who initially posted Viol2t’s “braindead” remarks on Twitter – in which he says the support falsely reported him just because he didn’t swap to Brigette during the same match.
I know his fanboys are gonna defend him saying i’m bad or i’m “throwing” by playing mercy etc. Thing is, i’m not the pro player representing Blizzard and i actually tried to switch to a hero i don’t play only to be attacked in return. Fucking shameful.
— hoshi (@HoshizoraOW) July 27, 2020
Despite San Francisco Shock addressing Viol2t’s toxicity, there has so far been no official action from the Overwatch League itself.
While the high pressure of ranked play can sometimes get the better of everyone, there’s never a place for the kind of actions shown by Viol2t on these occasions, especially as he is a prominent figure in competitive Overwatch representing the reigning champions.
