After what was supposed to be a fun event in the Overwatch League, some interesting news came out involving one of the players in it. The San Francisco Shock DPS Seonchang “ANS” Lee made some homophobic remarks on his Twitch stream. This was just after the All-Stars event in which he faced plenty of players in a Widowmaker 1v1 competition.
How it happened
ANS is known for being one of the best Widowmakers in the league. Still being in the running for 2020 championship with the Shock is a testament to that. However, just after the event and his finals loss to Min-seong “diem” Bae, he did say some questionable material on his stream afterwards. According to a translator on Twitter, what he said was:
"…if I lose, they'll be like "he played so gay he lost." So it just kind of feels like a waste of time."
The way that ANS uses the term "gay" here is deeply influenced by the pejorative way that male-dominated online communities like Inven and Ilbe use it.
— 아나탈 (@gatamchun) September 26, 2020
In this case, the way he said his words was very casual but the wording was offensive to say the least. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen situations like this in the Overwatch League either. There’s the incident from the first season with the infamous xQc suspension, and more recently there was the time with his teammate Minki “Viol2t” Park and his recent outburst and suspension.
ANS’ response
The good news is that ANS already responded on his words and apologized, doing so on Twitter.
I think I used the word gay in the wrong context. I was going to say goat, but I think the choice of words I made was wrong.
Also, I would like to apologize for not properly participating in the 1:1 event match.— ANS (@ansansniper__) September 26, 2020
While the apology is noted, there was mixed responses about his excuse for why. Either way, the question now is: will he get suspended and fined like previous players have? Some people might see what he did as not that offensive but worth apologizing for. But, this league has shown strict rules on remarks like this and has fined accordingly. Not only does this happen to a player, but a player who is currently still in the playoffs. We’ll have to wait and see what the league responds with, and if they suspend him, how it will affect the Shock.
