The London Spitfire have released a statement one day after scrim footage of the team leaked online with a player stating he was “raping” his opponents saying they have taken “immediate action.”
The Overwatch League is in its offseason as teams are still finalizing their rosters for the upcoming season. Many teams across OWL have been trialing players and coaches ahead of the start, and the March 13 free agency deadline.
Past March 13, teams will need to have a minimum of five players signed for the season, according to OWL rules.
London Spitfire addresses leaked controversial comms
On March 14, a short clip of scrim footage from the OWL team London Spitfire was leaked on Twitter. In the clip one player can be heard saying “I’m raping” and another saying “the rapist.” The two players are presumed to be Robert ‘Skairipa’ Lupsa, who was last seen playing for the Vancouver Titans, and Hadi ‘Hadi’ Bleinagel, who has been with the Spitfire since 2019 and came up through its academy team.
The leaked scrim is presumably from the Spitfire trialing players like Skairipa, who has not been announced as part of the 2023 squad.
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The clip quickly racked up views as fans called for action against the players. One day later, the team put out a statement about the leaked footage and said that the organization will take “immediate action.”
“There are zero excuses for this kind of behavior. This does not reflect the organizational beliefs of the London Spitfire in any shape or form,” the statement said. “We’d like to apologize to the community at large and promise to work with our players to help them grow to make sure this never happens again.”
The statement also said the players involved, presumably, the two heard in the clip, will take sensitivity training with a “professional.”
The OWL 2023 Pro-Am is set to start on March 23 and features teams from OWL and teams that made the event through the North America Qualifier.