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CEO 2024 chair-throwing popoff prompts ban threats for future events

CEO Gaming lead Alex Jebailey isn't too keen on letting broken $2,992 light fixtures at his events become a common occurrence.

TJ Denzer

July 1, 2024 7:23 AM

Image via CEO Gaming

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One of Florida’s largest fighting game tournaments, CEO 2024, took place over the weekend, bringing players from around the world together for another exciting showdown across a number of games. But the excitement may have gotten out of hand in at least one instance. Following a victory popoff (an often over-the-top celebration of a win at competitive events) that saw a chair thrown and a light fixture broken, CEO Gaming founder and CEO Alex Jebailey has promised that throwing things during a popoff will result in a ban from any future events he has a hand in.

The trouble occurred when during the Mortal Kombat 1 semifinals, REZ Esports player Dyloch Brooks achieved victory over active MK pro Curtis "Rewind" McCall. He, then, almost immediately chucked his chair over the ring ropes, reportedly damaging a light fixture in the venue. While Dyloch went on to say he would take responsibility for the light fixture, Jebailey went on to say he wouldn’t accept that kind of behavior in the future.

If one more person pops off throwing anything you will be banned from any event I ever do. This is a final warning to anyone in the future. Do not throw things.

— Alex Jebailey 👉🕹️#CEO2024 (@Jebailey) June 29, 2024

It’s a stark, but fair warning. Fighting game popoffs have become somewhat popular occurrences among certain parts of the community, arguably popularized by players like Smash pro player HungryBox. That said, Alex Jebailey also went on to share that the light fixture that was broken runs a cost of nearly $3,000 if it can’t be fixed and must be replaced entirely. That’s not even factoring in the risk of the chair hitting a person instead of CEO Gaming or venue property. Jebailey has considerable reach in his immediate space, so it’s not an idle threat, either. CEO Gaming runs the CEO and CEOtaku events, but Jebailey also plays a major role in organizing DreamHack events as well.

CEO 2024 was quite a fun affair with a ton of awesome showdowns, but popoffs are going to have to tone it down a bit after the events of the Mortal Kombat 1 semifinals, and appropriately so. Stay tuned for any further updates and more FGC coverage.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.