Activision speaks out after OWL star suffers “terrifying” anti-Asian racism in Dallas

Activision Blizzard has spoken out and “condemned racism in the strongest possible terms,” after OWL star Lee ‘Fearless’ Eui-Seok described the “terrifying” abuse he’s received in Dallas in recent times.

Lee ‘Fearless’ Eui-Seok shocked the world when he opened up about the repulsive racism he and his teammates have been subject to in Dallas. 

Not only have been people yelling abuse at them, but they’ve even coughed on them, laughed at them, and even tried to escalate violence.

“Being Asian here is terrifying,” he confessed. “The racism here is unspeakable. It’s terrifying for us. It’s been happening basically every day, and it’s pretty severe.” 

Organizations within the scene and countless other people on social media have expressed their disgust at the heartbreaking situation. Activision Blizzard led the charge when they issued the following statement to Polygon:

“At Activision Blizzard, we condemn racism in the strongest possible terms.

“We stand with the Asian community, our employees, and our players and are working across our organization, including esports, to do our part to combat hate and ignorance.”

Since then, it’s snowballed into a bit of a movement. The initial video has been watched almost 200,000 times, and thousands of fans have rallied behind him with their support. 

Mike ‘Hastro’ Rufail, the Founder and Chief Gaming Officer of Dallas Fuel, typically doesn’t like to make political statements. However, he couldn’t let this stand and let it all out in a five-minute video.

“I am deeply saddened by the situations some of our Dallas Fuel players have been put in while walking the streets here in Dallas, TX,” he said. “This is a great city in a proud state. This isn’t something we should be proud of at all and should all pitch in to change it.”

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He also described the players as “family” and vowed to keep doing everything within his power to make them feel comfortable. “I’m really sorry to our players who had to go through that and have to deal with that in this country.”

It’s a shocking and appalling situation. However, it’s not all that surprising, given that anti-Asian racism is reportedly on the rise in America.

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For that reason, Hastro urged everyone can “help him make a change” by calling out racism when they see it.