Overwatch League coach accused of grooming aspiring OWL player
Robert Paul/BlizzardWashington Justice’s new 2023 head coach, ‘GetAmazed’, has been accused of grooming an aspiring Overwatch League player. The team has been informed of the situation, but is yet to issue a response.
Zouheir ‘GetAmazed’ Baba is the head coach for both OWL’s Washington Justice and Team France in the 2023 Overwatch World Cup. Before the year’s competitions get underway, however, Baba has been accused of grooming an aspiring OWL player.
‘Kassian’ detailed their alleged experiences with GetAmazed in a twitlonger on February 27, claiming the coach sexually exploited them while offering to help with their aspiring pro career.
The two supposedly made contact online in April 2022 when Kassian was seeking a coach to help them further make up their mind if they should pursue a career in OWL.
At the time of this interaction, Kassian had been recovering from severe agoraphobia and grieving from the loss of someone they were dependent on due to their disability, according to their post. They were allegedly on the verge of homelessness while being in a financially difficult situation. Thus, they were unsure if they should continue pushing forward in competitive Overwatch.
The two supposedly conversed on Metafy, a coaching website, and after a discussion about their OWL pursuits, GetAmazed allegedly convinced Kassian that they should continue with their pro aspirations.
The soon-to-be OWL coach even refunded this initial coaching session and offered help to Kassian anytime they needed any Overwatch advice, according to the twitlonger.
Kassian went on to detail their relationship from that point forward. Where it allegedly first started as just a cordial relationship in which Kassian would ask the coach for advice in Overwatch, it would slowly evolve into a more personal one, they suggested.
Kassian alleged that GetAmazed slowly showed them more affection while goading them into sending photos of themself. Before long, it supposedly resulted in explicit images being exchanged between the two.
GetAmazed would allegedly stop answering any Overwatch-related questions and only request Kassian to send pictures and videos which they weren’t comfortable sending, they claimed.
“I felt like he was using me for his own pleasure,” Kassian wrote in the twitlonger.
GetAmazed would eventually cut all contact abruptly, Kassian revealed. The aspiring player would eventually report their alleged history and exploitation to the manager of Team Peps, Mélissa “Søeny” Yang, who GetAmazed was coaching at the time.
YouTube: Overwatch ContendersIn supposedly leaked screenshots of their private messages, Kassian would allege that Søeny tried to deny the allegations, and even attempted to dismiss Kassian’s experience.
The issue has since been reported to the Washington Justice’s Vice President of Esports, Grant “Keiranthil” Paranjape. In a seemingly screenshotted message between Kassian and Keiranthil, they can be seen asking him for updates, only to be told to direct any questions to a consulting law firm. No further updates were provided after that message, according to Kassian.
As of writing this, neither GetAmazed nor the Washington Justice has responded to the allegations.