League of Legends coach Brandon ‘Saintvicious’ DiMarco has resigned from his position with NA LCS team FlyQuest following comments which sparked outrage, dismissive of various mental conditions, including depression and anxiety.
During a live stream on December 8, the popular coach and caster said that he had suffered from depression, but called it “made up bullshit” and an excuse.
His comments received widespread backlash, with some concerned that someone so misguided on issues of mental health was in a coaching position, potentially harmful for players in his team.
The clip from his stream quickly went viral, for all the wrong reasons, after being shared to Reddit and social media.
On the evening of December 8, FlyQuest posted a statement on their Twitter page, confirming that Saintvicious had resigned from his position as Head Coach with the organization.
“Today, we announce the resignation of our League of Legends team Head Coach, Brandon ‘Saintvicious’ DiMarco. FlyQuest truly appreciates the hard work and insight that Brandon has provided over the last year. We wish him well with his career and know he will be able to shine in any opportunity he is given.
FlyQuest’s League of Legends team will continue under the direction of Gabriel ‘Invert’ Zoltan-Johan and David ‘Cop’ Roberson until further notice.”
— FlyQuest (@FlyQuestSports) December 9, 2018
Shortly before this announcement, Saintvicious shared an apology on his Facebook page, calling the experience a “reality check” and admitting he was uninformed about mental health.
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Reactions to his statement were mixed, with some pointing out that he had not said these illnesses were “exaggerated”, as he claims in his statement, but in fact had called them “made up.”
You can read Saintvicious’ statement in full below.
As you may or may not have heard, I said some seriously inconsiderate things on my stream yesterday. I said that mental issues such as depression, anxiety, and ADHD were exaggerated and that people suffering from those issues should be able to overcome it on their own. Admittedly, this was an ignorant statement stemming from my severe lack of subject matter knowledge.
I want to apologize for my mistakes, for both my words and my general attitude towards mental health issues. This is a very humbling experience for me; I was surprised to realize just how uninformed I was regarding mental health, especially because it is an important part of my responsibilities as a coach. I hope, through this reality check, that I can grow to become an advocate for mental health issues and a better pillar for the people I care about.
Once again, I sincerely apologize for my statements and the callousness I displayed