Homophobia and Toxicity in Overwatch Competitive Community: Part 2
Not even a week can go by without the 'Competitive' scene of Overwatch being in the news for its patrons 'racist/homophobic' behaviour. Before it was Dallas Fuel team-member xQc telling openly gay rival to 'suck a fat cock', now its (again) a Dallas Fuel team-member Taimou calling another player a 'fucking faggot kid' on stream. I say now, this was in response to a innocent that happen on the 23rd of January that has only come to light, due to another event that's has happen.
During Timo stream on the 23rd he used homophobic slurs to describe another player a 'fucking faggot kid'. This incident has more or less gone unreported, its only now (a month and a bit later) I've even heard about this. Maybe I just missed this in the news, but I couldn't really find any real articles on it. Well to be honest, I didn't know who Timo was, so after alittle googling turns out he's one of 'those' streamers. You know what 'those' streamers mean, the sort of you could describe as 'edgy', they use offensive words and is liked for being 'ragey'.
Being one of 'those' streamers is fine, you're allowed to be an arsehole, and good on you, I really don't care. However, when you are a 'professional' member of a competitive team, you become a representative of that team, and the competitive scene as a whole. So you can't go around calling guys 'fucking faggot' or 'an autistic n****r' on stream. Like I'm not sure why this is even debated at all. Timo hasnt said anything about this (at time of writing), with his bad attitude and his past I doubt he will, unless he is pressed by his team too.
While Dallas Fuel has come out and made a statement on this matter, the Overwatch League has not. However we know that blizzard has known about this innocent involving Timo, they have done nothing about it. Someone field a support ticket about him, so someone at blizzard knew about this, and let it go unreported or noticed. There has been issues about how this news broke, and it has become less about Timo and more about the Reporter who reported this, but that doesnt excuse that Blizzard KNEW about this and still allowed him to compete in the League, which is unacceptable.
Jack Dixon is a gamer, cinephile, and more than likely he's the guy who's ignoring you on Grindr. Tweet him @Jackaphobia. Support his writing on Patreon!