Pro Gamer Suspended For Saying He Had Sex With a 14-Year-Old

[The Wooster]

Pro Gamer Suspended For Saying He Had Sex With a 14-Year-Old

French StarCraft 2 player, Ilyes 'Stephano' Satouri, has been suspended for his inappropriate behavior during a live match.

It's been a poor week for professional gaming. First, a League of Legends player managed to net his team a $30k fine after he was caught screen watching during a competition. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120059-Alleged-League-of-Legends-Cheats-Fined-30-Grand] Now, professional StarCraft 2 player, Ilyes "Stephano" Satouri , has been suspended from his team without pay for one month, following a bizarre exchange during a live match in which he claims to have "abused" a 14-year-old.

Now, English isn't 19-year-old Satouri's first language and it seems unlikely that even the most idiotic child molester would cop to his or her crimes during a livestreamed match of StarCraft 2, but Satouri's comments have landed him in hot water nonetheless. Evil Geniuses, the renowned pro gaming clan he represents, has since dropped him from its lineup for one month.

"French Zerg player Ilyes 'Stephano' Satouri has been suspended without pay for the remainder of October, following his recent inappropriate comments," reads an Evil Geniuses statement. "He will be ineligible to participate in all online and offline competitions during the month of October, including the upcoming GD Invitational and DreamHack Bucharest tournaments for which he was previously signed up."

Despite a public apology from Satouri, Evil Geniuses says that while the decision to suspend him is final, the team doesn't consider the matter closed just yet.

As professional gaming grows in popularity and members of formerly niche communities become e-sports celebrities, we're seeing more and more examples of pro gamers acting inappropriately on the world stage. Earlier this year, competitive gamer, Aris Bakhtanians, brought the competitive fighting game community under scrutiny after a video of his appalling treatment of female gamer, Miranda "Super-Yan" Pakozdi hit the news. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0SLDgPbjp0M] Bakhtanains later argued that "sexual harassment is a part of [the] culture," a statement he later retracted and apologized for.

Source: Gamespot [http://www.gamespot.com/news/starcraft-ii-pro-gamer-stephano-suspended-and-fined-for-sexual-comments-6398219] via Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5951516/professional-starcraft-gamer-suspended-for-saying-he-had-sex-with-a-14+year+old]


Permalink

 

[BrotherRool]

I'm surprised this got picked up by the news sources really. No-ones made any sort of real allegation and teams have suspended players plenty of times before. Poor guy had completly forgotten that the other person was streaming too

I guess it's sad that the bad stuff sells. Mainstream experience with EVE or progaming or whatever is always the scandals and it can be quite hard for the main media to gauge how important any one thing is. Like in the EVE Chariman scandal, no-one really mentioned that it was at an event where the whole point is everyone boasting about how they tricked and scammed x y and z.

Still Stephano shouldn't have done this and the ban was right EG acted correctly. It's hard for people like Stephano, one of the best SC players in the world, the whole hopes of Europe on his shoulders, but at the same time, he's young he hasn't had to learn to deal with the pressure, no-one has experience of it. And with he's progaming at such a critical time of his life. Should you study, get your degree, have something to fall back onto or do you go for it whilst you have the talent and chance? He chose progaming, but that can't be a decision that rests easily on anyone.

 

[Infernai]

The stupid of this mans actions, it's hurting me...it's physically hurting me. Please, make the stupid stop. Even in an online environment there is some things you don't say, ESPECIALLY in the professional arena. Just.....URGH!!

There's only one thing to make me feel better now, a facepalm chain. Come on everyone, start posting facepalm pics, maybe then the stupid will start to go away

 

[Something Amyss]

He couldn't have just stopped at the "I just had sex with your mum" line like everyone else?

Kidding aside, I doubt he really did it, but there needs to be a thorough investigation here.

 

[airwolfe591]

As professional gaming becomes more and more popular, it's really up to these gamer's to be paragons of our favorite hobby. Though in e-sports, just as in real sports, there will always be controversy, just as there always has been. I'm just hoping that fewer and fewer pro-gamers act like this, or as others have, and though the instances may be few and far between, their actions could still echo throughout the entire hobby.

On a side note, I'm still hoping there will be a game that I'm ever professional grade good at, but as of yet, every single one of these gamers/teams could probably whoop my ass good in the blink of an eye.

 

[pffh]

Well I think the age of consent is only 15 in France so maybe he just slept with someone that was only a few days away from their birthday.

 

[13thforswarn]

Poor guy had completely forgotten that the other person was streaming too

Poor guy? Wtf? How can you have any sympathy for him? I mean, what the bloody f*** was he thinking? How is that even a joke (assuming it's not true)? "I abused a child" is appalling and he rightful got suspended (though you did acknowledged this).

 

[DugMachine]

"Sam I have abused of a child yesterday" haha engrish?

Why do I think this is just a load of crap? If it true though he should be in jail not punished from his precious e-sports.

 

[Nurb]

He's a dick, but if being a dick gets people suspended from... sports... then most of the world's population of athletes would be out of the games a while

From the sounds of the story, he was trying to be funny by being offensive. He's no louis CK.

 

[BrotherRool]

Poor guy had completely forgotten that the other person was streaming too

Poor guy? Wtf? How can you have any sympathy for him? I mean, what the bloody f*** was he thinking? How is that even a joke (assuming it's not true)? "I abused a child" is appalling and he rightful got suspended (though you did acknowledged this).

I'm not saying I approve but
https://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=dead+baby+jokes&fp=1
this exists you know. I've laughed at the 'Why did the girl fall off the swing?' 'Because she had no arms'

This guy makes a career out of this stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6g3RmfTD4s

It's easy to say someones a bad person for saying this stuff, but context is everyone and considering Frankie Boyle(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3qIWg7-cR0) and Jimmy Carr are very successful comedians, it's fair to say theres a large segment of the population that doesn't disapprove of black comedy. Some people feel that there's no bounds. Something which can be a bit nasty but nothing more between friends is completely different when you leave it all by itself and have people judge it.

I still think it was wrong, but I know for a fact I've had plenty of friends say worse things in their spare time. We're on a site that published recent reviews delighting in the way people's skulls get crushed in x games. Unfortunately for this guy, he's the one that makes the news when he makes an awful joke. You have responsibility when you're a public figure which is why it's right he gets the ban, but still this is something which lots of people are guilty of without the same price.

For that matter, the context we get is crud. For all the quote we see he could be just being hyperbolic and actually he just felt like he got a really good deal on girl guide cookies (note I'm not saying this I would bet on it not being that =D), but people use language like that if they want to be silly with their words. 'I totally raped him' is a thing


Heck there are 15 year old professional Progamers. For all we know he just kicked some 14 year old girls arse on the ladder. Or some whiny rage quitter that he's calling a 14 year old girl. (Naturally the people who started this got more context, so it's not that, but every site it's got reported on doesn't provide any context at all so we can't make a judgement)

 

[Kopikatsu]

Well, this clinches it. Sexual scandals? Esports can now join the big leagues of Baseball, Basketball, Hockey and the like.

 

[Terrible Opinions]

Side notes for people unfamiliar:

Stephano has a bit of a reputation for... well, saying stupid god damn shit and not paying attention to the community. He's also probably the best non-Korean Starcraft 2 player in the world right now.

And his team, EG, has been getting harder and harder on this sort of thing for a while. They fired a caster a while back for racist/homophobic language (used in his own stream; not theirs) and usually hot-headed personalities like Idra and Incontrol have toned down a lot since the Brood War days.

 

[Denamic]

I don't really give a shit about the drama, but now I won't see Stephano play in tournaments for ages. That's pretty terrible news, as he's a fantastic player, easily one of the best in the world. Korea included.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

As professional gaming becomes more and more popular, it's really up to these gamer's to be paragons of our favorite hobby.

Pretty much this. If you're in the public eye, you have no excuse to retort to grade-school bullshit. We're busting our asses trying to give something like letters of nobility to the medium, so the last thing anyone needs, Hardcore or Casual, is some thoughtless idiot figuring that dropping abuse in any shape or form is in any way acceptable.

As far as I'm concerned, trash talking should always be penalized. There's means to be competitive or to celebrate your skill or potential victory without demeaning the other players.

You'd think a simple "GG" would be something some of these guys would consider, but no. In my experience, a lot of folks I've met online are completely lacking in the social graces. It's as if "******" were about to be warped out of shape and considered as a neutral statement or compliment, even.

"Hey, fag.
- Hey, butt-muncher. How's the wife?
- Oh, you know. She sucks cock. The usual."

*the two of 'em sip coffee*

 

[JoJo]

Um, not to play devils advocate or anything, but if the image in the OP is accurate, at no point does he say that he molested a child. It says he "abused of a child." Now this guys first language is not english, so just for a second take oout the word abused & replace it with "pwned" & suddenly it makes a lot more sense.

I think that this is one of those times where a story is being reported because the gaming press needs someone new to be offended by. You don't want news, you want to be righteously angry at someone for being a monster.

I agree, apart from the one "abused" mention, most of the implications came from the other player. Sounds most likely to be a language mix-up rather than a joke or an idiotic confession.

 

[Kengaskhan]

Um, not to play devils advocate or anything, but if the image in the OP is accurate, at no point does he say that he molested a child. It says he "abused of a child." Now this guys first language is not english, so just for a second take oout the word abused & replace it with "pwned" & suddenly it makes a lot more sense.

I think that this is one of those times where a story is being reported because the gaming press needs someone new to be offended by. You don't want news, you want to be righteously angry at someone for being a monster.

I agree, apart from the one "abused" mention, most of the implications came from the other player. Sounds most likely to be a language mix-up rather than a joke or an idiotic confession.

I can see where you're coming from, but if Stephano was disciplined by his own team (known for having a pretty good manager) and then he personally issued a public apology, then it's just not very likely that that was the case. Also, Stephano has a history of being sort of immature.

 

[chadachada123]

snip

"Teenage pro gamer suspended for saying he had sex with another teenager."

I feel as though the actual headline should be a mix between your own and the above. Your current headline seems pretty damn unfair, as if it's a 25-year old and not a 19-year old who had sex with a 14 year old.

People skimming the headline are going to jump to conclusions, I feel.

I just...feel like the guy got screwed over and is being screwed even harder by the media representation.

 

[viranimus]

It is rather loathesome.

Not the issue. The overly sensitive politically correct world we live in that wouldnt have at least taken a second look and thought, Hrm, maybe he is just talking about annihilating some noob kid.

Really I dont see how anyone even cares. Call me when he is actually charged with it based on some form of evidence, otherwise its all just words.