The Overwatch World Champion of 2016, Ryujehong, is now making his living as a professional content creator for the pro team Gen G. However, a new Twitch stream could harm his career. He reportedly streamed while intoxicated and clashed with his co-streamer. What some see as “playful teasing” is viewed by others as misogynistic and sexist. His team Gen G. has now suspended him.
Who is this? The 29-year-old Ryu “Ryujehong” Je-hong was regarded as one of the best support players in Overwatch during his active time. He was especially known for his gameplay as Ana.
He was part of the team that won the first Overwatch World Championship in 2016. The South Koreans were in the lead.
Ryujehong was a professional in the Overwatch League for three years as a flex support for Seoul Dynasty and the Vancouver Titans. He has now ended his career and become a professional content creator for Gen G., one of the largest eSports teams in South Korea. According to Forbes, Gen G. is the sixth most valuable eSports organization in the world, valued at 185 million USD.
A week ago, the CEO of Gen G. was still excited about the signing of the world champion: A legend is returning.
@ryujehongsexy coming back to the fam is something I didn’t think was possible. This guy’s a legend and what he wants to do in content are awesome. Going to keep some surprises here, so stay friggin tuned! (4/6)
— Arnold (@arnoldwh) January 12, 2021
What did he do? According to a report from Dotesports, the supporter was on air with a South Korean LoL streamer on December 16. As Dotesports reports, Ryujehong appeared to be intoxicated during the stream and made numerous sexist and demeaning comments about the co-streamer:
- The streamer allegedly called the colleague a slut
- he admonished her that she was interrupting him – women should be quiet when men speak
- he referred to her as a “gold digger,” saying women could not be trusted with men’s money
- he also instructed her to bring him a drink and spoke inappropriately
The repercussions: As Dotesports reports, the streamer has deleted the video of the stream. However, the streamer still has the stream in her archive.
There is a statement from Ryujehong addressing “negative fan comments.” He apologized to viewers who felt uncomfortable. Apparently, some had difficulty adjusting to the new atmosphere in the chat when he used “streamer memes” more frequently, and he now wants to pay more attention to feedback and employ mods and bots.
But people who are not his fans should please stop fanning the flames.
Incident in South Korea viewed differently in the West
This is how it’s being discussed: When the news broke in the English-speaking part of the Overwatch community, some were initially disappointed with the professional’s behavior. He had always seemed so nice. It’s hard to explain such suddenly misogynistic behavior. Some seemed genuinely shocked that their former hero is acting this way now.
One user then stepped in to moderate the incident. They stated that the world champion and the streamer had previously teased, insulted, and jived with each other. Rough language had become normal between the two. They remained friends even after the stream. However, this user also admitted that some sexist remarks were made.
It is said that Koreans handle these things lightly. In the USA, however, the atmosphere is heated. One cannot apply the same standards.
This is a very similar discussion to the one we recently had in Germany. In the context of Rust, it was about a comment that some understood as a joke while others saw as sexual harassment.
Gen G. responds to misconduct: “Very disappointed”
Update 20.1.: Gen G. has since responded to the streamer’s behavior. They have suspended all his activities related to Gen G. until further notice.
They state they are “very disappointed” with the language the world champion used in the stream. The behavior is uncharacteristic of him. He expressed remorse and would take responsibility for his bad behavior.
But he has now been suspended indefinitely.
We already reported in 2017 about strange behavior of South Korean Overwatch professionals. The young eSports players apparently thought that as professional athletes, they were entitled to young female fans as groupies. This was not well-received in the league:
Overwatch: Korean Casanovas – mini sex scandal about eSports players
