Blizzard employee denies allegations of sexual misconduct with underage girl

As more stories surrounding the toxic culture in the gaming and esports industries come to light, with horrifying recounts by the victims of sexual assault and predatory behaviour with most recently EU LCS caster Joe Miller getting accused of sexual misconduct. 

(Credit: @Blinky_Plz)

Now, a Blizzard employee finds himself partially denying the accusations made against him, specifically one that revolved around grooming a minor. Blinky, most recently a product manager for Overwatch Open Division was allegedly trading nude pictures with a 14-year-old girl, a situation he immediately denied in his response via Twitter.

"There's one additional story about a minor which is a COMPLETE fabrication. I have never even talked to someone this age in this way, once, ever in my life. A couple of people in-game would call me 'pedo' last year, and I always thought it was just because they didn't like me."

(Credit: @Blinky:Plz)

The accusations against him made by former Overwatch pro turned Valorant coach Phaz, claim that Blinky "was a pedophile who was exchanging nudes with a 14-year-old girl. Friends of the girl knew this and when they saw him in-game they called him a pedo in all chat. [sic]"

In a follow-up tweet, Phaz would mention how Blinky would abuse his power to threaten the friends of said 14-year-old with banning their accounts if they continued with the call outs, citing former mods of Blinky's Twitch channel as sources.

"He obtained this information by using his job at Blizzard to get into their account details and dox them. His previous mods have confirmed to me that he would gloat about being able to look up people's accounts at work and get anyone he wants banned."

• Read More: Twitch hands bans to streamers accused of sexual misconduct

The allegations he did confirm, however, involved degrading comments towards several women. One in particular shared details and screencaps of their conversations, stating that he would, on a regular basis, shift the tone from an amicable conversation into a sexual one.

She stated that Blinky’s “advanced became more aggressive and the things they would say to me (were) degrading. There was a lot of talk of ‘passing me around’ at cons and even normal conversations would turn sexual.”

(Credit: @TheSamethyst)

Overwatch League misconduct cases

Blinky isn't the only member of the Overwatch community that has found themselves in trouble.

Twitter user wazzbag shared numerous screenshots of an NRG/San Francisco Shock employee making racist, transphobic and homophobic comments.

Some of the comments include using the n-word, as well as derogatory comments towards the trans community and multiple instances of jokingly inciting his girlfriend at the time to commit suicide, something she wasn’t comfortable with following struggles with her mental health.
 
“While I'm sure this part was a joke, he did constantly say he was going to ‘murder me’ or ‘beat me’ or tell me to kill myself, which while it may have been a joke, was very insistent, and him knowing I’ve struggled with my mental health and suicidal thoughts, it felt strange that he would constantly make these kinds of jokes to me.”

(Credit: @wazzbagg)

San Francisco Shock would quickly take action and swiftly condemn their employee, terminating his contract effective immediately. 

The Overwatch is set to return June 27th at 9 am GMT, giving the fans the chance to earn double the OWL Tokens as usual.