Overwatch League pro Sayaplayer randomly pelted with tomatoes at restaurant

Bill Cooney

A stranger apparently threw tomatoes at Overwatch League pro Jung-woo ‘Sayaplayer’ Ha while he ate lunch on Monday, June 3.

Sayaplayer joined the Mayhem as a DPS player midway through the Inaugural Season, and has become one of the key players on the team in Season 2.

Florida still has to find their stride this season, having only won one match so far, so things are probably stressful enough for Sayaplayer without getting food thrown at him.

What happened?

On June 3, Sayaplayer tweeted he was enjoying his lunch, before some lowlifes apparently started throwing tomatoes at him, for whatever reason.

“I went to eat lunch at a restaurant but a few people didn’t seem to like our group,” Sayaplayer tweeted in Korean, according to a translation by Swingchip. “They threw tomatoes at us -_- I should have fed them the tomatoes that fell on the floor :(“

After Sayaplayer posted about the bizarre incident fans, other Overwatch League players like the Atlanta Reign’s Dusttin ‘Dogman’ Bowerman offered their support.

“When will racism end, this shit is so god damn unacceptable. If we can get anything from this situation, be EXTRA considerate and give some hospitality to the KR players in our league,” Dogman said. “You are my brother [Sayaplayer], next time this shit happens to you let me know and I’ll come asap.”

We don’t know exactly why this random person decided to start throwing tomatoes, or whether or not they recognized Sayaplayer from the Overwatch League, but based on his tweet it seems to be a purely uncalled for act of vegetable throwing.

What is it with esports players and having food thrown?

Sayaplayer’s bizarre tomato throwing incident brings to mind the time Team Liquid’s Juan ‘Hungrybox’ DeBiedma had a crab thrown at him during a Smash tournament.

Like Sayaplayer, Hungrybox was obviously upset after having a crustacean aimed right at his dome, but the Smash pro got the last laugh as he ate a crab on stream afterwards.

The tomato throwing incident is slightly different because it happened off stream while Sayaplayer was just trying to enjoy some lunch in his free time, but eating a tomato dish on stream while he clicks heads would be a great comeback.