Capcom bans two Street Fighter pros due to offensive statements

Two professional Street Fighter V players have had to endure the ruthless might of Capcom. Derogatory comments made by the two players recently surfaced. The result of this is an indefinite ban from all events. Seems a bit harsh, don’t you think? Don’t worry though, the ban isn’t permanent.

Derogatory statements by LowTierGod

One video surfaced two weeks ago, which contained footage of professional gamer Dalauan “LowTierGod” Sparrow making disgusting comments about homosexuals and transexuals during a live-stream match against Christina “CeroBlast” Tran. The match never concluded as LowTierGod left the match during the second round.

Upon leaving the game, a frustrated LowTierGod ranted for around a minute and a half about CeroBlast, who had recently come out as a non-binary transsexual person. The rant was filled with homo and transphobic slurs and hateful comments. It was ultimately clipped and shared multiple times via social media.

Tournament organizers for CEO and Combo Breaker, Alex Jebailey and Rick “TheHadou” Thiher, both issued Twitter statements banning LowTierGod on April 16. Word eventually traveled to EVO staff, who then notified him that he had been banned from all EVO events.

CeroBlast using racial slurs

Shortly after this was, followers of the situation then started to bring up an unrelated social media interaction from back on March 23. In this, an exchange occurred between Tran and a player named BigNastyKail. During this discussion, Tran used the N-word toward Kail repeatedly. Tran was also banned from EVO events, in addition to other major tournament organizers.

Word from Capcom

In a statement by Capcom, they said, “Capcom has been made aware of a situation where Dalauan ‘LowTierGod’ Sparrow and Christina ‘CeroBlast’ Tran have made offensive statements online. This is a clear violation of Capcom’s player code of conduct, so we have concluded that we have no choice but to ban LowTierGod and CeroBlast from all Capcom-owned and/or operated events, including Capcom Pro Tour and Street Fighter League for an indefinite period including this year and beyond until further notice.”

According to a Capcom spokesperson, “The player bans are expected to last through the 2020 season, at a minimum. After roughly a year, we will reassess each ban, taking into account any efforts each player may have made to make restitution to the community.”

Capcom further stated that Sparrow and Tran’s “prior behaviors were not a consideration” in the bans. However, “behavior after the bans will be a consideration when we review the bans at the conclusion of the 2020 season.”

Since the ban took effect on April 18 and April 19, CeroBlast has already apologized for their actions. LowTierGod stated that the ban “is a wack feeling,” but he will never stop supporting Capcom.

Ryan Goodrich

Ryan has been writing since long before he could even write. He's written resumes, software user guides, consumer electronic reviews, and myriad web content spanning a variety of industries. But now he's writing about video games, which is much more interesting.

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