As the investigation into Jay ‘Sinatraa’ Won continues, the Overwatch League has issued a statement regarding the matter. Prior to playing Valorant esports, Won was a key member of the San Francisco Shock Overwatch team, where he was crowned MVP for the team’s winning 2019 season.Furthermore, Overwatch will refund an Overwatch League skin for Zarya that was inspired by Won as part of his MVP win during his time in the league. The Overwatch League operates under a franchise system, and the San Francisco Shock is operated by a third-party company.
In a statement to IGN, an Overwatch League spokesperson says, “The Overwatch League is aware of allegations made against former player Jay “Sinatraa” Won. We take any allegations of this nature seriously and unequivocally support victims of abuse.”
Overwatch League also says it will offer refunds for the “Alien” Overwatch League skin, which was designed to commemorate Won’s MVP win. Anyone with the skin currently can refund the skin for 200 League Tokens (retail: $9.99 USD) and have the skin removed from their collection. The Overwatch Championship and MVP badges will also be removed from the Alien skin in a future patch.
An official blog post on the Overwatch League website for how Won helped inspire the Alien skin has already been taken down and now redirects to an error page.
Overwatch League ‘Alien’ skin for Zarya designed to commemorate Sinatraa’s MVP win. Source: Blizzard
Here is the Overwatch League’s full statement below:
“The Overwatch League is aware of allegations made against former player Jay “Sinatraa” Won. We take any allegations of this nature seriously and unequivocally support victims of abuse. The League is offering a refund of 200 League Tokens for the “Alien” Overwatch League MVP skin to players who request one, at which point the skin will be removed from their collection. We’ll share more information on how refunds will work soon. The Overwatch Championship and MVP badges will be removed from the “Alien” skin in a future patch.”
Original Story: Professional Valorant player Jay ‘Sinatraa’ Won has been suspended from the North American Valorant Champions Tour following allegations that he sexually abused a former partner.
Content Warning: details on sexual and emotional abuse follows.
In a statement yesterday, Cleo Hernandez provides a detailed, graphic account of her relationship with Won, saying Won pressured her into sex on numerous occasions without her consent, even after she repeatedly told him no or expressed that she was in pain. She also accused him of being emotionally abusive and manipulative while they were together.
The account includes an audio recording in which Hernandez can be heard saying “No” repeatedly while a male voice, said to be Won’s, insists on continuing.
Today, Riot issued a statement through its official Valorant Champions Tour NA account authored by global head of competitive operations and Valorant, Alex Francois:
“We are aware of the current situation regarding Jay Won (Sinatraa) and have launched an investigation. Per our existing competitive rules and investigative process, a decision has been made to suspend Won throughout the investigation and therefore he will not be able to compete this weekend.”
Won’s team, the Los Angeles Sentinels, has also suspended Won with a similar statement:
“We are aware of the current situation regarding Jay ‘Sinatraa’ Won and have launched an investigation internally. While the investigation is pending, he is suspended from the team. We will provide a further update once the investigation has concluded.”
Won is a former competitive Overwatch player who used to play for the San Francisco Shock, before moving to the Sentinels and Valorant in 2020.
Won has yet to reply to these accusations. IGN has also reached out to the Overwatch League for comment as well.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.Source