One other big Pokémon tournament was held in Hartford, Connecticut over the weekend, and new champions have been topped throughout TCG, Scarlet and Violet VGC, and Pokémon Go in a number of age divisions. The celebrations didn’t final lengthy although.
After being topped the 2023 Hartford Regionals TCG Champion, Rowan Stavenow was referred to as out for antisemitic conduct primarily based on a video circulating across the group. Whereas the TCG participant has since advised Dot Esports he plans to proceed competing for the world title this 12 months earlier than focusing extra on college and native occasions subsequent season, outrage has solely continued to bubble up throughout the cardboard sport fandom.
The video in query confirmed {that a} swastika had been shaved onto Stavenow’s head. The swastika after all grew to become an emblem of the Nazi get together in the course of the Holocaust.
Alarmed and outraged by the video, gamers in the neighborhood voiced their issues concerning the scenario throughout social media on Could 22.
TCG professional Josh Frink, a Jewish participant, said he doesn’t really feel protected going to Pokémon occasions just like the one in Hartford. “This dude had a Swastika shaved into his head. To me, meaning I keep the hell away for him or I may find yourself damage or useless.”
“On the finish of the day, he (and his pals who truly shaved it into his head) are making gentle of one thing that has and is actively costing folks their lives,” Frink added. “I hope that Pokemon and the group at giant do what they’ll to drive this sort of conduct out of the group.”
One other Jewish member of the Pokémon group, Jared Grimes, chimed in on the scenario quickly after too. “It’s sickening that anybody would do something however condemn this conduct in these instances. ‘However he’s not a Nazi!’ No person cares at this second in time,” he wrote in a Twitter thread on Could 22. “This has been a tragedy in opposition to the Jewish group. Assist those that want it as an alternative of defending this particular person.”
Many others in the neighborhood have been additionally damage and disillusioned by what they’d seen or heard in regard to Stavenow’s involvement within the swastika video. It marks one more occasion through which the TCG setting is changing into much less of a protected place for folks of all backgrounds.
Stavenow later launched a statement with an apology and an evidence.
He mentioned he was initially unaware his pals would shave a swastika onto his head and wouldn’t have allowed it if he had recognized. He added he “felt gutted” when he realized his good friend had made the video public and mentioned it was not a joke to him.
When contacted by Dot Esports, Stavenow mentioned: “After this season I’m quitting moreover native occasions whereas I’m at college. However sure, I’ll proceed to compete for a world title this 12 months.”
Following the Could 22 assertion, Grimes (together with different members of the Pokémon group) responded to Stavenow with encouragement to study and develop from this incident. Many additionally suggested him to distance himself from these pals who he had alleged shaved the swastika onto his head within the first place.
This incident comes after the Pokémon Professor was banned for transphobic behavior on the Vancouver Regionals in March. The group continues to induce gamers and workers alike to coach themselves on these delicate points.
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