Two Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players engaged in a fistfight at CEO 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida on June 29. Kelsy “SuperGirlKels” Medeiros initially reported the altercation on her Twitter without providing specific details.
Literally a fight broke out no one did anything. No security. then a to got involved and then they started fighting and then it took my mom go find 1 person to help. A lot of people in the venue are drunk, and high calling out players causing problems. i wanna leave
— SuperGirlKels 🔜 @SmashQuebec Terry Christmas 3 🍁 (@SuperGirlKels) June 30, 2019
James “Osiris197” G and Michael “RiotLettuce” Heilman were the two players who engaged in the fight. Naturally, both players shared their accounts of the event in their own personal TwitLongers. There are a few details about the altercation that both players confirmed in their accounts.
While drunk, Osiris197 knocked a gallon jug of water out of another player’s hand. In response, RiotLettuce approached him and began to push and bump his chest against him. Osiris threw the first punch, after which RiotLettuce began to punch him. After the fight, Osiris197 gained possession of RiotLettuce’s GameCube controller, which he threw on the ground. Beyond this information, the two players provide somewhat different details.
CEO 2019 fistfight according to the participants
RiotLettuce posted his TwitLonger first. In it, he claimed that a friend texted him, asking him to come to the bathroom because someone was “starting something with him.” The friend pointed RiotLettuce towards Osiris197. RiotLettuce then went to speak to him, although he claims that Osiris made the first aggressive move by getting up in his face.
RiotLettuce admitted to hitting Osiris197 again after he threw the controller on the ground. He finished his account by stating that many tournaments had banned Osiris in the past. In light of this, RiotLettuce believed CEO should not have allowed him to enter in the first place.
Osiris197 used his TwitLonger to refute some of the points RiotLettuce made in his. According to him, he hit the jug of water out of the other player’s hand simply because he was drunk and thought it was funny. Then, an hour after this incident, RiotLettuce aggressively approached him. Osiris did admit to throwing the first punch and to throwing RiotLettuce’s controller. He even confirmed that he directed a racial slur at RiotLettuce.
Osiris197 did not attempt to claim he was innocent. However, he did suggest that RiotLettuce was initially the aggressor. He also refuted RiotLettuce’s claim that many tournaments had banned him. According to his statement, only one local had ever banned him before. In addition, Osiris made reference to the fact that RiotLettuce had been in a physical altercation at a tournament before. RiotLettuce and Manny Medina were both kicked out of Super Smash Con 2017 for getting into a fight.
Lots and lots of controversy
Osiris197 has caused controversy within the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate scene before. He reportedly harassed Antony “MuteAce” H at a recent Super Smash Con. He also reportedly made an inappropriate comment about Eric “ESAM” Lew’s wife at Glitch 6. Because of these events, multiple players are urging tournament organizers to ban Osiris197 from their Super Smash Bros. events.
Hey can we just ban Osiris permanently? Literally every tournament he goes to he does some dumb stuff to ANYONE he can
He's an asshole and a disgrace to the scene. https://t.co/WhaTAq7sEe
— ESAM (BALD) (@imESAM) June 30, 2019
https://twitter.com/BlankSmash/status/1145242938986962944
Even outside of the CEO 2019 fistfight, the atmosphere of the surrounding area caused problems for players at the event. Ryan “La Luna” Coker-Welch and Jason “ANTi” Bates were called “gay” by strangers on the streets of Daytona Beach. In addition, multiple people suggested that the region was hostile to racial minorities. Ezra “Samsora” Morris even joked about the issue in a tweet about Chris “WaDi” Boston’s top 8 appearance.
