G1 Esports, an organization with professional teams in Rocket League and Halo, released a bizarre 24-minute video of their CEO addressing alleged missed payments to players and others that has confused fans and community members alike.
G1 Esports was accused of missing salary payments to its Rocket League team, squads in the Women’s Car Ball league and other payments from tournaments the organization has run. The players on the G1 Rocket League team have yet to publicly confirm these allegations, but many have come forward from the WCB circuit and from other G1 events claiming to have not received payment.
G1 initially put out a response on August 14, addressing the allegations in a four-sentence statement with another statement from its CEO on the same day.
The organization then released a bizarre 24-minute direct-to-camera video statement from its CEO addressing the same allegations and the decisions that led up to the alleged missed payments.
Transparency from our CEO pic.twitter.com/Us8iHEV2Py
— G1 (@G1Official) August 17, 2023
The video featured background ambient music, cuts and title cards at the beginning and end of the video.
“What I want people to understand is, I never withheld anything from players or staff. I’ve given pretty much everything I can back to the org. Every day I’m working diligently to make sure everyone is taken care of. I’ve talked to the Rocket League team myself, I’ve talked to Sergio ‘AtomiK’ Pérez Cortés’s dad, I’ve talked to pretty much every single team and all the players myself [and said] that I will handle the situation. I say I’m going to do something, I absolutely will do it, that’s one thing about me… my sole focus is making everyone whole before I worry about myself,” G1 CEO Kenny Vaccaro said at the start of the video.
Esports community reacts to G1 statement about missed payments
Some community members backed the CEO’s statements in response to its posting on social media. Others clowned on the statement for its length and lack of clarity around the situation.
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why is this video over 24 minutes longwe dont care about your passion for gamingwe dont care about the story of your orgwe dont care about how you got into rocket leaguewe dont care about why you picked up a womens leaguejust acknowledge you didnt pay people and fix it https://t.co/R2hgtDwGHF
— geecee ♡ (@gcindisguise) August 17, 2023
“Why is this video over 24 minutes long,” one social media user said.
https://t.co/jLF5uo5iPE pic.twitter.com/ffGoLET7yp
— Sean (@SwitchRL) August 18, 2023
Another responded with a meme about its length saying “I ain’t reading all that. I’m happy for you though. Or sorry that happened.”
Real Sarah McLachlan ASPCA commercial vibes. https://t.co/pvWIN1kpMB
— Joel Caso (@FierceEIite) August 18, 2023
“Real Sara McLachlan ASPCA commercial vibes,” one community member said.
The CEO spend most of the video chronicling mistakes he and the organization made leading up to the missed payments for G1’s esports teams and expressing his regret for how the situation was handled.
I want to address the recent statements that have been put out regarding Kenny/G1. It’s a less than ideal situation for ALL parties involved but when people start piggy backing and using others hard times to their advantage and making up blatant lies about my husband and G1,… https://t.co/OCv0Q8N6ZN pic.twitter.com/6FLNUh9kOW
— Kahli (@kahliov) August 17, 2023
The statement also saw one member of the organization post internal emails from the organization about a co-owner and founder of G1 Hunter “makowski’ Swensson in a reply on social media. The email laid out grievances about Swensson, including poor work ethic, smoking during working hours and poor relations with content creators and players.
Players and other community members allegedly owed money by G1 have yet to confirm if they have been paid by the organization at the time of writing.