FIFA 19 bans a professional for a word he considered completely normal

Recently, EA banned a FIFA pro for using the homophobic word “Fag” in a stream. He thought it was a normal word because he is from London.

What happened? The FIFA pro and European champion Tassal “Tass” Rushan was recently banned by EA. The reason was his unfortunate choice of words in a live stream of FIFA 19 Ultimate Team, where he was opening card packs.

However, luck was not on his side, as player Matías Vecino appeared multiple times in the packs. This frustrated Tass so much that he misspoke and referred to the card as “fucking fag”. However, “Fag” is mostly used in a homophobic context and prompted EA to ban him.

The pro probably didn’t know how bad the word is

Tass is now indefinitely excluded from all FIFA 19 competitions.

This is what the pro says: Tass has now responded with a video to the events. In it, he explains why he expressed himself that way. He apparently didn’t know that “Fag” has a homophobic meaning and thought it was more akin to harmless curses like “Idiot”.

Apparently, the word is quite common in London, at least according to his perspective.

I believe some of you understand me for that reason. Who is from London? Did you know that the word has such a connotation?

He didn’t think much of it. He repeatedly emphasizes that he would never have used such a word otherwise. He also formally apologized to EA, his team Faze, and his fans.

I am not that kind of person. Now that I have found out what it means, I will never say something like that again.

You can watch the video here.

Whether and when EA will lift its penalty is still unknown. In any case, Tass was not the first pro banned in FIFA 19. The pro Kurt “Kurt0411” Fenech was also banned by EA.

In FUT mode, one should generally be careful about what one does. The purchase of coins with real money can for example lead to severe penalties.

Everywhere there is e-sports, e-pros are repeatedly subjected to various bans, whether from developers or streaming platforms. Such as a LoL player who even sued Twitch 600 days after his ban  . But also in other titles like Pokemon Go, there are often waves of bans.

What do you think of EA’s reaction? Is the punishment justified?

More on the topic

FIFA 19: The 3 best formations recommended by the pro

von Max Handwerk