Former Street Fighter champion Lee Seon-woo, also known as Infiltration, has been banned from Evo, Combo Breaker, and more major fighting game tournaments.Last night, Seon-woo shared emails that he'd received from both Evo and Combo Breaker telling him that he's been banned from both events for breaking the code of conduct. The email from Evo said, "After conducting a review, we determined you do not meet our Code of Conduct, and we cannot allow you to compete at Evo this year. You are being refunded. This decision is being supported by Combo Breaker, Community Effort Orlando, East Coast Throwdown, and the intercontinental Fight Club."The email from Combo Breaker, which Seon-woo apparently received just minutes after the email from Evo, said, "In respect to our Code of Conduct, and in support of the Evolution Championship Series enforcement of their own, you will not be able to attend Combo Breaker 2022 this year. You are being refunded". Evo general manager Rick Thiher spoke to Kotaku regarding the ban, and said, “Evo will not be discussing individual enforcement decisions publicly, but will be taking necessary action to uphold our code of conduct and create a welcoming environment at Evo competitions".
It's not just Evo and Combo Breaker that Infiltration has been banned from, as the former Street Fighter champion was also banned from Twitch. No reason was given for the ban, but it's believed to be because of a stream he took part in following his ban from Evo where he used several racial slurs on camera. The use of racist language goes against Twitch's guidelines and will likely have led to the ban. Infiltration reacted to the Twitch ban and said, "I know haters trying to spreading Twitch clip because of I said N word. If I make someone feels bad, I will be better person and I can fix my mistake [sic]."
This is far from the first time that Infiltration has been banned from fighting game events. Seon-woo was arrested for multiple counts of domestic violence against his wife at the time in 2017. She filed a temporary restraining order against him, which was granted once the hospital ruled that she'd been bruised from the injuries. Seon-woo was fined 700,000 won, and his organisation, Panda Global, cut ties with him. He was then banned from all Capcom tournaments for two years following the incident.