Esports team Evil Geniuses have "released" Starcraft 2 pro Greg "IdrA" Fields from their roster, after he insulted the SC2 community in a forum post earlier in the week. The often contentious Zerg player posted in the Team Liquid forum's " The IdrA Fanclub " thread Wednesday morning, calling fans "a bunch of fucks" after one poster jokingly suggested he was "crying inside" because of "enforced facade."
"Nope you're all a bunch of fucks," IdrA said in his now deleted reply . "It just so happens I get paid to treat you like it. It's fucking awesome."
Ultimately, Evil Geniuses decided he wasn't paid to treat eSports fans like that, and yesterday released a statement announcing his departure.
"To state the obvious, this was a very difficult decision for us," wrote EG CEO Alexander Garfield. "Over the past several years, we as an organization have grown close to Greg, and we have developed a deep appreciation and respect for him as a person. We consider him a member of our family, and parting ways with him leaves us all with a very heavy feeling in our stomachs."
Garfield notes EG's philosophy of letting players be themsleves, noting that, "This is why it was never really an issue for us that Greg can be rude to his opponents in games, or that he usually speaks his mind very bluntly and directly." But he carefully makes the distinction between opponents and community of people that directly support the eSports scene.
"The eSports industry, and companies like Evil Geniuses, would not be possible without the passion and support of our community. We, as a company, cannot and will not be supportive of anyone who does not show due respect and appreciation for the community that makes everything we do possible."
It must be a difficult balance for a largely vitriolic public persona to strike. IdrA's BM behaviour was a big part of his love-to-hate appeal. But EG has been on the frontlines of promoting professionalism among its pros, previously suspending player Ilyes "Stephano" Satouri after he was caught joking about sexual abuse during a stream.
Do you think IdrA went too far, or was he just giving fans more of what they'd come to expect?
Thanks, PCGamesN .
