EVO 2019 has come and gone with some upsets in championship wins. People on the internet love to focus on the anime-esque rival story between Dominique “SonicFox” McLean and Goichi “GO1” Kishida, upholding it as a positive image of the fighting game community. However, lost in the midst of the Dragon Ball FighterZ drama was something darker. A great upset happened in the Samurai Shodown tournament. Nobody cheated, there was no match-fixing, nothing like that. The problem is that winner Lee “Infiltration” Seon-woo should not have been allowed to win; let alone compete.

Infiltration is an experienced member of the fighting game community, having previously won five EVO tournaments. However, skill and expertise should not erase the fact that he was a domestic abuser. In 2017, Infiltration was charged for battering his former wife in a ruling by a South Korean court. Infiltration, of course, denied that he’s done anything wrong.

In 2018, he was a member of the Panda Global esports organization and was set to compete in the Capcom Pro Tour. When his past was brought out by anonymous users, Panda Global did its own investigation on Infiltration, going out of its way to obtain documentation and navigate the South Korean legal system. While there was apparently some sensationalism mixed in with the accusations, the organization at the least confirmed Infiltration’s charge and a temporary restraining order that was on him before that point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMZYxJr0F5U&feature=youtu.be

As such, Panda Global terminated its contract with Infiltration. The organization was open, it was transparent and it held its former member accountable. No real organization in its right mind would want a convicted domestic abuser to represent it. Mere abuse allegations could smear a community, which was why Infiltration willingly withdrew from the Capcom Pro Tour “because I could not do any more damage to my team and the fighting game community,” he said in a statement in spite of his denials.

Which raises the question: why on Earth would EVO allow Infiltration to compete, especially after his organization thrown him out? Why allow him to compete when Infiltration himself acknowledged the damage his presence would have done in the Capcom Pro Tour? EVO, as an institution, is a huge symbol of the fighting game community and by allowing Infiltration to compete, it sends the message that abusers like him are welcome there.

The fact that EVO enabled his ability to win the Samurai Shodown tournament is shameful. EVO has not only let a known abuser in, but has championed him. By winning, Infiltration has become a symbol for the fighting game community; a negative symbol, at that. Infiltration’s win is the inverse of the positivity of SonicFox and GO1, as he sets a bad example for the fighting game community and has set a bad precedent moving forward.

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