Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
UPDATED: March 10, 2021 at 7:34 p.m. PT: The Overwatch League has stated that it will be offering refunds of 200 League Tokens for the "Alien" Overwatch League MVP skin. This comes after the League learned about the allegeations made against former player Jay "Sinatraa" Won.
Jay “Sinatraa” Won is widely considered to be one of the most impressive players to have ever come out of the Overwatch League, having been selected as its MVP in the second year of the league and going on to take the San Francisco Shock to a sweeping championship victory in 2019. Sinatraa since moved onto Valorant and has competed there, but recent troubling reports may leave him benched. Sinatraa has been suspended from upcoming Valorant competition after a former partner has come forth with allegations of sexual assault by the player.
The allegations come from ex-girlfriend of Sinatraa, Cleo Hernandez, who recently opened up on her Twitter with a lengthy Google document detailing an intensely aggressive and harmful relationship between herself and Won. The copy contains a massive account of grim details which include text messages and an audio file detailing allegations that Won forced Hernandez to have sex with him, as well as being emotionally manipulative and refusing to use contraceptives. This led to Riot Games taking action to suspend Sinatraa from play and launch an investigation into the allegations, as posted via the Valorant Champions Tour Twitter.
“We are aware of the current situation regarding Jay Won (Sinatraa) and have launched an investigation,” The statement from Valorant and Riot Games Global Head of Competitive Operations Alex Francois reads. “Per our existing competitive rules and investigative process, a decision has been made to suspend Won throughout the investigation and he will not be able to compete this weekend.”
The Valorant Champions Tour kicked off in 2021 and has featured a number of competitive events in which teams are vying to work their way to a Champions Event at the end of the year. Sinatraa’s suspension means he will miss competition in the upcoming event as part of the Sentinels squad. According to the Sentinels organization Twitter, it has also launched its own investigation into Won.
It will remain to be seen what comes of these investigations, but with audio and text messages to go with Hernandez’s claims, the matter looks more than a little serious for Sinatraa’s immediate future. We will continue to report new information on this situation as it becomes available.