Yet another Hearthstone caster quits Grandmasters following Hong Kong protest
In the silence that emanates out of Blizzard, yet another Hearthstone caster has decided that enough is enough – quitting from being a caster at Grandmasters for the rest of the ongoing season. This was in answer to the harsh punishment that Blizzard issued to Blitzchung, a pro-Hearthstone player, after making ‘liberate Hong Kong’ comments.
In retaliation, Blizzard removed Blitzchung’s winnings and banned him for a whole year. To put this in perspective, not even racist, homophobic players get banned for that long.
Since then, Blizzard has mostly been silent but according to Engadget, seem to be ‘assessing’ the situation. What this means we have yet to see, but their silence only fuels the outrage of the community, so when they do finally get an answer, we hope that it’ll be a good one.
However, this may be too little too late. As Polygon reports, it was Nathan ‘Admirable’ Zamora who withdrew from being a Hearthstone caster for Grandmasters. In a message on Twitter, he wrote:
“For half a decade, I have sought to bring passion and joy to a community that shares my love for Hearthstone and card games. […] However, in light of recent events regarding Blitzchung, it is with a heavy heart that I must say this:
I will not be part of the broadcast team for Hearthstone for the remainder of this Grandmasters season, for the Masters tour in Bucharest, or for Blizzcon.”
He continued on to say that “Blitzchung’s actions to support Hong Kong speak to me far more than I could have imagined. It takes courage to stand up for what you believe in, and to make sacrifices in the process. His actions are inspiring to me, and I support him wholeheartedly.”
With BlizzCon coming up, it looks like things are only going to get worse for Blizzard until they finally answer. Whether they will before the event goes ahead remains to be seen.
Check out the rest of Gayming Magazine to learn more about Blizzard, Bltizchung and how Blizzard’s community is reacting.
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