Blizzard bans Hearthstone pro for something he did 4 years ago – His life is falling apart
Blizzard has banned a Hearthone card game pro from esports for a year: Jon “Orange” Westberg (28) now feels his life is collapsing. Something catches up with him in 2022 that he did 4 years ago: He had sexually molested a woman who was drunk, but kept this act secret in public. Now it comes out and everything seems over. The public reaction is devastating. His friends turn their backs on him – “rightly so,” thinks Westberg.
Who is the Hearthstone pro Oange?
- Swede Jon “Orange” Westberg has been a well-known Hearthstone player for the past 5 years. In total, he has $309,000 in prize money from 67 tournaments (via esports earnings).
- The Swede had his best year in 2017 at the age of 23: He finished second in two important Hearthstone tournaments and won $110,000 with the two second places alone. Like many other Hearthstone pros, Westberg originally hails from the card game Magic: The Gathering.
- Westberg is also a Twitch streamer with around 60,000 followers. Hearthstone used to be really big on Twitch: it was the 4th largest game in 2016, but it has since shrunk a bit and ranks 19th in games by average viewers on Twitch.
Blizzard distances itself from the former best Overwatch player in the world
Blizzard bans professional from e-sports in Hearthstone for one year
This is the decision now: As Westberg himself announced on May 17, he was banned from esports in Hearthstone by Blizzard for a year. Westberg said it was because of a “mistake from the past”; for which he takes full responsibility.
He was not previously informed that he was in the spotlight and that Blizzard was investigating him.
The professional said: The decision completely exhausted him. He needs time now to work that out. Until then, one should hold back with speculation.
Blizzard declined to comment further. It seems clear, however, that Westberg was indeed banned for the “mistake from the past,” which he himself admits.
Grabbed under the bra of a sleeping woman while drunk
What was this error? According to a Swedish website that keeps court records (via lexbase), site PC Gamer found out that Westberg was accused of rape and sexual harassment in 2018.
The plaintiff said she drank with Westberg and two friends one night and Westberg forced himself on her while she was sleeping.
Wesberg admitted putting a hand under her bra but denied laying on top of her or forcing a hand down her pants.
The court decided to dismiss the rape claim because there was a lack of evidence and the testimonies of both parties were believed to be credible. In addition, the memories are apparently blurred because both had drunk so much that they had to throw up.
However, the complaint of sexual harassment was upheld. The court ruled: Westberg had no reason to believe that the drunk and sleeping victim was interested in sexual activity.
Profi says he was on his way to the bottom of his life at the time, but has changed since then
How does Westberg react? In a long post on Twitter, he addressed his situation (via Twitter). People saw him in a completely different light after the revelations. Because the whole incident was only known to very few people until then: his parents, his therapist and only a few other people:
Before yesterday I could count on two hands the people I’ve told and even with them it was very hard for me to give them all the details and to share the fear of being abandoned, something I know it’s unfair to them.
Westberg now explains why he had never commented on it in previous years and never apologized to the victim.
He says: He was in an extremely difficult situation at the time, was depressed, and spent the last few years working on himself to make sure that something like that didn’t happen. That all took a very long time. He went to therapy and moved back in with his parents.
Before the incident, my life was hitting rock bottom. I’ve had a lot of problems with my mental and emotional health, but instead of seeking therapy, I’ve dealt with self-destructive behaviors.
It was never my intention to hurt others, but various deep seated issues along with these behaviors have led me to hurt someone immensely and that is the regret I have most of my life.
Westberg repeatedly emphasizes that he does not want to present himself as a victim and accept full responsibility for his actions. He also expresses regret that this incident may now be causing harm to traumatized victims.
Westberg admits that some of his recent pro-women statements may seem hypocritical, but he has really changed and his life has changed for the better.
With the ban from Hearthstone, a life that he had built up for 8 years is now collapsing for him. Just where he qualified for tournaments: he is now withdrawing from the scene.
Although I haven’t shared everything from my life, I’ve honestly tried to do something good for the community all the time that has been my whole life for the past 8 years.
Hearthstone community is very critical of statements
Here’s the reaction: The reaction from the Hearthstone community has been pretty negative. Because in the eyes of Hearthstone players, there’s a big difference between going public to apologize and justifying yourself after you’ve already been caught.
Former Hearthstone commentator Songbird says (via twitter):
“You can take responsibility for your actions and you can take responsibility for your actions because you got caught. The second felt disingenuous.”
A Hearthstone veteran, Frodan, says (via twitter):
“He kept this a secret for 4 years while capitalizing on his streaming career. He can change and he can forgive. But he will never be welcome again.”
Westberg himself announces that he is taking a radical step (via twitter):
I will be deleting all my social media accounts at the end of today. Watching all my friends rightfully turn their backs on me and people wishing me dead is too much now. Thank you for the time we spent together.
Again and again, e-athletes are caught up in actions they committed in their past:
Twitch streamer becomes a professional in Valorant for the top team, fired 3 days later
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