Despite an apology from Blizzard Entertainment president J. Allen Brack during the opening of last week's BlizzCon event for the way the company responded to pro-Hong Kong remarks made by Hearthstone pro-Blitzchung, Brack has since confirmed that the controversial ban that ensued will remain in place.
Initially, Blizzard issued a year-long ban to both Blitzchung and two on-stream casters whose interview led to Blitzchung's brief pro-Hong Kong declaration. Whether or not the casters knew the content of Blitzchung's ensuing remarks is up for debate, but both Blizzard and many posters online (even some who are in opposition to the ban) do seem to agree that the casters had some role in the message making it to air.
Of course, the bulk of the controversy stems not from the level of the casters' involvement, but from Blizzard's response to an act expressing solidarity with a human rights movement. In its first of two apologies, Blizzard withdrew its decision to revoke a significant amount of prize money that had been awarded to Blitzchung and lessened the ban for both the player and casters to six months. Then, during BlizzCon, Brack apologized for the initially more extreme sentence and for the company's failure to address the ensuing controversy in a timely fashion.
In an interview with PC Gamer focused on the ongoing controversy in light of BlizzCon, Brack clarified that the impetus behind the ban was a commitment to ensuring the content of all Blizzard esports broadcasts are free from politics, regardless of message. He also clarified two additional points of contention. First, the two casters were punished not for whether or not they knew about Blitzchung's statement ahead of time, but for failing to keep the stream focused on esports. Second, that a widely-shared message posted to Weibo apologizing for Blitzchung's conduct was not posted by Blizzard but by their Chinese publisher, NetEase.
Like essentially every new update to the long-running discussion around Blizzard's ban, the safe middle ground taken by Brack and Blizzard will likely do little to appease the many who are still upset with a company that has prided itself on inclusivity. This very well may be the last we hear about the issue, as Blizzard likely hopes this will all kind of quietly fade away.
Source: Eurogamer