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Overwatch League Player Eqo Uses Insensitive Gesture During Stream

The Philadelphia Fusion player will soon face punishment regarding his use of a racially charged gesture.

Kevin Tucker

April 4, 2018 11:00 AM

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Popular Overwatch League player Josh "Eqo" Corona of the Philadelphia Fusion has found himself coming under scrutiny following the use of a slant-eye gesture when referencing Korean players during an Overwatch Twitch stream over the weekend.

Corona was seen making the gesture after someone made the comparison between his skills and those of another Korean player. Corona responded by saying "I am Korean" before pulling the corner of his eyelids upward. The Twitch video and relevant clip containing the gesture have since been removed, but Twitter user soap.exe has posted the clip online, imploring Corona to explain himself.

hey @PHL_Fusion, want to explain why @eqo did this racist slanty-eye gesture? pic.twitter.com/35v8VAJcfn

— soap.exe (@lifesizedhuman) April 1, 2018

Following the events of the stream, Comcast CEO and president of Philadelphia Fusion Tucker Roberts took to Twitter and apologized for Corona's lack of decorum, stating that "we are working on a punishment now." Corona himself took to Twitter with a response, stating that he didn't know anyone would find the gesture offensive.

Obviously l apologize to anyone that got offended this clip got is out of context a bit since I was complimenting the Koreans before the clip and after the clip and did the gesture more in a form of wanting to express myself being like them since I admire them not making fun ..

— Eqo (@eqo) April 1, 2018

It's worth noting that such insensitive behavior is not only against Twitch's recently updated community guidelines, but also against the Overwatch League's own code of conduct, which states that "in no event may any streaming include any video game content, actions, comments, language, or other material that could be expected to bring [any Overwatch League associate] into disrepute."

This isn't the first time that a popular streamer or esports athlete has landed in hot water following an insensitive comment or gesture. Just one week ago, Twitch personality Ninja drew ire for using a racial slur during a Fortnite stream; similarly, streamer and YouTube personality Pewdiepie came under fire for similar circumstances after casually dropping a racial slur during a stream of PUBG back in September.

Kevin Tucker

Guides Editor

Kevin Tucker is a core component of Shacknews' powerful guide development team. For questions, concerns, tips, or to share constructive criticism, he can be reached on Twitter @dukeofgnar or through e-mail at kevin.tucker@shacknews.com.