In Counter-Strike 2, the biggest game on Steam, a bizarre situation occurred. The Israeli professional player Shahar “flameZ” Shushan was shown on Twitch, apparently provocatively raising his middle finger during a match. The image was shared by the tournament organizer on Twitter. The middle finger was interpreted as a dismissive gesture of a bad winner, but it was meant quite differently.
In what situation did this happen? It was a match in the quarter-finals of the BLAST Bounty Spring 2025 tournament between Team Vitality and Eternal Fire on January 25.
The rifler from Team Vitality, flameZ, had just played an excellent game, secured 3 kills, and thus won the round for his team. The opposing team, Eternal Fire, took a timeout to recover from the shock and discuss a new strategy.
During the timeout, BLAST cut in a summary of the round showing the dominant player, flameZ, as he seemingly celebrated his great performance by laughing and stretching his middle finger at the opponents, under the motto: “I showed you.”
BLAST also posted a picture with the gesture on X.
Organizer posts unsportsmanlike gesture on Twitter, shows it on Twitch
How was the gesture understood? In that moment, it seemed as if the 21-year-old Israeli was acting unsportsmanlike and appeared as a bad winner, ridiculing his opponents with the middle finger.
The gesture seemed doubly foolish since Eternal Fire won the match decisively 2:0, meaning that one good round from flameZ made no difference.
Player asserts: He respects his opponents
Here’s how it cleared up: BLAST publicly apologized for showing the streamer’s gesture in that context, as the raised middle finger had nothing to do with the situation.
Apparently, flameZ was just joking with a photographer from BLAST and stretched his middle finger at him in fun.
The Israeli professional states: BLAST had filmed his gesture from a different angle and then posted it on Twitter. He himself has “nothing but respect” for his opponents. The gesture was also recorded before the actual match, just unfortunate timing in the editing.
The player did not act unsportsmanlike here, and the photographer has confirmed that the middle finger was directed at him and was done purely in fun. He has come out of the situation well, unlike another professional: CS:GO: Player proposes to girlfriend after World Cup victory, she destroys his life – This is what he is doing today
