BLAST apologize to Counter-Strike pro for taking middle finger gesture “out-of-context”
BLAST PremierBLAST has apologised to Team Vitality’s Shahar ‘flameZ’ Shushan, following an incident at BLAST Bounty Season 1. The tournament organizer drew criticism over claims they misrepresented the Israeli’s actions.
The Counter-Strike pro was shown ‘giving the finger’ during a match against Eternal Fire, but the tournament organizer later clarified that the gesture was not directed at Eternal Fire’s players.
BLAST apologized for the mischaracterization of flameZ’s actions, and expressed “regret” that the edit had led to “a hoard of abusive messages being directed to the player online.”
BLAST’s full response
BLAST issued a statement to Twitter/X on January 25, which read: “Yesterday there was an incident involving Vitality player, flameZ, where a middle finger gesture was caught on camera.
“This moment, which occurred in an out-of-context interaction between the player and the camera crew, should not have been aired as this interaction happened before the match started. We want to clarify that the gesture was not aimed at any opponent or fellow competitor.
“We deeply regret that this has led to a hoard of abusive messages being directed at the player online. We sincerely apologise for the negative attention it has caused and we do not condone any abuse towards any player in any shape or form.”
What happened?
With Vitality trailing 0-4 in the first map of Anubis, the Israeli star rifler was handed the team’s only rifle going into the round. flameZ went on to secure a triple-kill in the round, which proved decisive as Vitality went on to win their first round of the contest.
As a result, Eternal Fire called a timeout between the rounds. During that time, BLAST’s production cut to footage of the round, followed by video footage of flameZ giving the finger.
After the match, the player posted a statment on Twitter/X, stating that the gesture had not been aimed at Vitality’s opposition. “Just to clarify regarding the middle finger, I was joking with the cameraman and pointed the middle finger at him. Blast took it from a different angle and posted it,” flameZ stated.
The photographer involved, Venaxie, later revealed that the footage was captured “before the game had even started,” suggesting that it could not have been a result of the in-server action.
In response to this, HLTV Editor-in-Chief, Milan ‘Striker’ Švejda, said, “BLAST rolling this mid-map when it’s from pre-game and not directed at the other team is pretty damn rough.”
In response to the criticisms surrounding the situation, BLAST released the statement above, and as of writing, flameZ has not followed up with another response.