Blizzard bans Blitzchung for Supporting HK protest

#1

Brimstone

0 Frags – +

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/blizzard-bans-hearthstone-tournament-winner-blitzchung-after-interview-supporting-hong-kong-protesters/

he got banned from the game and his prize money revoked
vods of the interview deleted
heard the two interviewers were fired

Show Content

inb4 being shipped in chains to mainland...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/blizzard-bans-hearthstone-tournament-winner-blitzchung-after-interview-supporting-hong-kong-protesters/

he got banned from the game and his prize money revoked
vods of the interview deleted
heard the two interviewers were fired

[spoiler]inb4 being shipped in chains to mainland...[/spoiler]

#2

TailorTF

Stream Highlights

60 Frags – +

I knew I hated blizzard for a reason

#3

Brimstone

25 Frags – +

lmao the blizzard subreddit is just inundated with people posting the tienanmen square copypasta

#4

Waldo

22 Frags – +

Reddit removed the original post after it got widespread attention: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/dewc98/blizzard_suspends_hearthstone_player_for/

Other recent instances of nominally Western companies/organizations bowing to Chinese censorship demands:

NBA
Apple
Vans

Probably others too.

Edit: https://old.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/df8qwy/apple_bows_to_china_by_censoring_taiwan_flag_emoji/f326vlq/

Reddit removed the original post after it got widespread attention: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/dewc98/blizzard_suspends_hearthstone_player_for/

Other recent instances of nominally Western companies/organizations bowing to Chinese censorship demands:

[url=https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/nba-statement-english-chinese-66104687]NBA[/url]
[url=https://qz.com/1723334/apple-removes-taiwan-flag-emoji-in-hong-kong-macau-in-ios-13-1-1/]Apple[/url]
[url=https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/464640-vans-shoes-face-boycott-calls-after-company-removes-design-referring]Vans[/url]

Probably others too.

Edit: https://old.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/df8qwy/apple_bows_to_china_by_censoring_taiwan_flag_emoji/f326vlq/

#5

Tery_

29 Frags – +

I've played Hearthstone since closed beta in late 2013 and this will be the easiest uninstall of my life. Fuck Blizzard, fuck China.

#6

reako

6 Frags – +

SMOrc SMOrc SMOrc Fuck China SMOrc SMOrc SMOrc
SMOrc SMOrc SMOrc Free Hong Kong SMOrc SMOrc SMOrc

#7

yak404

22 Frags – +

fuck china

#8

Wandum

21 Frags – +

why the fuck would they fire the interviewers
what could they possibly have done to prevent this

#9

Reero

11 Frags – +

yak404fuck china

[quote=yak404]fuck china[/quote]

#10

Collaide

refresh.tf

9 Frags – +

TailorTFI knew I hated blizzard for a reason

Activision-Blizzard***. Don't forget they are the same company.

WaldoProbably others too.

The great search engine BING happily censors its search results for Chinese users. Google is not available, so bing is (probably?) bigger there.

[quote=TailorTF]I knew I hated blizzard for a reason[/quote]
Activision-Blizzard***. Don't forget they are the same company.
[quote=Waldo]Probably others too.[/quote]
The great search engine BING happily censors its search results for Chinese users. Google is not available, so bing is (probably?) bigger there.

#11

seanisgone

3 Frags – +

dont trust china, china is asshole

#12

MozzarellaFireFox

18 Frags – +

WTH I knew something was up with their mission statement...
https://imgur.com/hWIcZy0

#13

wonderofl

7 Frags – +

FUCK CHINA

#14

Arie

serveme.tf

9 Frags – +

Wandumwhy the fuck would they fire the interviewers
...

Because they're Taiwanese, so Blizzard has to show the Chinese they're serious about protecting their interests.

[quote=Wandum]why the fuck would they fire the interviewers
...[/quote]

Because they're Taiwanese, so Blizzard has to show the Chinese they're serious about protecting their interests.

#15

Thespikedballofdoom

5 Frags – +

It may just be an attempt at keeping chat calm but i believe the dota 2 internationals stream chat had some sort of suppression on chinese protest stuff too

#16

Hugges

33 Frags – +

American University Hearthstone team had the balls to hold up a boycott blizzard sign during a collegiate championship stream: https://streamable.com/vrlcc

cut the stream REAL quick

American University Hearthstone team had the balls to hold up a boycott blizzard sign during a collegiate championship stream: https://streamable.com/vrlcc

cut the stream REAL quick

#17

mitch

5 Frags – +

One of Blizzard's main markets is China, I'm not surprised by any of this.

#18

xattuu

16 Frags – +

HuggesAmerican University Hearthstone team had the balls to hold up a boycott blizzard sign during a collegiate championship stream: https://streamable.com/vrlcc

they cut away immediately yikes dude

[quote=Hugges]American University Hearthstone team had the balls to hold up a boycott blizzard sign during a collegiate championship stream: https://streamable.com/vrlcc[/quote]
they cut away immediately yikes dude

#19

Brimstone

19 Frags – +

all these people are getting moved up on the organ harvesting schedule

#20

Togsyck

26 Frags – +

动态网自由门天安門天安门法輪功李洪志 Free Tibet 六四天安門事件 The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 天安門大屠殺 The Tiananmen Square Massacre 反右派鬥爭 The Anti-Rightist Struggle 大躍進政策 The Great Leap Forward 文化大革命 The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 人權 Human Rights 民運 Democratization 自由 Freedom 獨立 Independence 多黨制 Multi-party system 台灣臺灣 Taiwan Formosa 中華民國 Republic of China 西藏土伯特唐古特 Tibet 達賴喇嘛 Dalai Lama 法輪功 Falun Dafa 新疆維吾爾自治區 The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 諾貝爾和平獎 Nobel Peace Prize 劉暁波 Liu Xiaobo 民主言論思想反共反革命抗議運動騷亂暴亂騷擾擾亂抗暴平反維權示威游行李洪志法輪大法大法弟子強制斷種強制堕胎民族淨化人體實驗肅清胡耀邦趙紫陽魏京生王丹還政於民和平演變激流中國北京之春大紀元時報九評論共産黨獨裁專制壓制統一監視鎮壓迫害侵略掠奪破壞拷問屠殺活摘器官誘拐買賣人口遊進走私毒品賣淫春畫賭博六合彩天安門天安门法輪功李洪志 Winnie the Pooh 劉曉波动态网自由门

#21

Manky

0 Frags – +

动态网自由门天安門天安门法輪功李洪志 Free Tibet 六四天安門事件 The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 天安門大屠殺 The Tiananmen Square Massacre 反右派鬥爭 The Anti-Rightist Struggle 大躍進政策 The Great Leap Forward 文化大革命 The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 人權 Human Rights 民運 Democratization 自由 Freedom 獨立 Independence 多黨制 Multi-party system 台灣臺灣 Taiwan Formosa 中華民國 Republic of China 西藏土伯特唐古特 Tibet 達賴喇嘛 Dalai Lama 法輪功 Falun Dafa 新疆維吾爾自治區 The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 諾貝爾和平獎 Nobel Peace Prize 劉暁波 Liu Xiaobo 民主言論思想反共反革命抗議運動騷亂暴亂騷擾擾亂抗暴平反維權示威游行李洪志法輪大法大法弟子強制斷種強制堕胎民族淨化人體實驗肅清胡耀邦趙紫陽魏京生王丹還政於民和平演變激流中國北京之春大紀元時報九評論共産黨獨裁專制壓制統一監視鎮壓迫害侵略掠奪破壞拷問屠殺活摘器官誘拐買賣人口遊進走私毒品賣淫春畫賭博六合彩天安門天安门法輪功李洪志 Winnie the Pooh 劉曉波动态网自由门

#22

Connie-

RGB LAN

10 Frags – +

All of this shit makes me really happy I renewed my W101 sub instead of trying out WoW classic

#23

DonDorito

1 Frags – +

Anyone know of any private Wow Classic or Vanilla (I guess?) servers? I tried WoW for the first time with classic and I would feel morally bankrupt if I didn't cancel my subscription, but would also like to have the chance of experiencing WoW

#24

Pete

8 Frags – +

Wandumwhy the fuck would they fire the interviewers
what could they possibly have done to prevent this

While I agree it's ridiculous the casters did say "Now we hear you have 6 words to say, be sure to back up from the camera and cover your face" or something to that effect

[quote=Wandum]why the fuck would they fire the interviewers
what could they possibly have done to prevent this[/quote]

While I agree it's ridiculous the casters did say "Now we hear you have 6 words to say, be sure to back up from the camera and cover your face" or something to that effect

#25

Hugges

20 Frags – +

Blizzard response:
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/blizzard/23185888/regarding-last-weekend-s-hearthstone-grandmasters-tournament

The specific views expressed by blitzchung were NOT a factor in the decision we made. I want to be clear: our relationships in China had no influence on our decision.

https://i.imgur.com/bgTXQCr.png?1

Blizzard response:
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/blizzard/23185888/regarding-last-weekend-s-hearthstone-grandmasters-tournament

[quote=]The specific views expressed by blitzchung were NOT a factor in the decision we made. I want to be clear: our relationships in China had no influence on our decision.[/quote]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/bgTXQCr.png?1[/img]

#26

della

1 Frags – +

https://i.redd.it/jyehne7zhsr31.png

#27

MozzarellaFireFox

10 Frags – +

HuggesBlizzard response:
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/blizzard/23185888/regarding-last-weekend-s-hearthstone-grandmasters-tournament
The specific views expressed by blitzchung were NOT a factor in the decision we made. I want to be clear: our relationships in China had no influence on our decision.If this had been the opposing viewpoint delivered in the same divisive and deliberate way, we would have felt and acted the same.

"divisive" bro he used his platform as a tourney winner to say something pro-democracy.
Conflating all political speech is super awful for discourse.
When being pro-democracy and anti-democracy are BOTH banned, anti-democracy wins.

[quote=Hugges]Blizzard response:
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/blizzard/23185888/regarding-last-weekend-s-hearthstone-grandmasters-tournament

[quote=]The specific views expressed by blitzchung were NOT a factor in the decision we made. I want to be clear: our relationships in China had no influence on our decision.[/quote]
[/quote]
[quote]If this had been the opposing viewpoint delivered in the same divisive and deliberate way, we would have felt and acted the same.[/quote]
"divisive" bro he used his platform as a tourney winner to say something pro-democracy.
Conflating all political speech is super awful for discourse.
When being pro-democracy and anti-democracy are BOTH banned, anti-democracy wins.

#28

Nub_Danish

15 Frags – +

Please support Hong Kong, but don't forget China's currently doing many things much worse than this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4rJUtdUqvk&t=9s
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/finally-some-consequences-for-chinas-concentration-camps/2019/10/10/0c3e99c0-ead0-11e9-9c6d-436a0df4f31d_story.html
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/06/asia/china-xinjiang-video-intl-hnk/index.html
https://www.sciencealert.com/our-worst-fears-about-where-china-s-human-organs-come-from-were-just-confirmed
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2206874-prisoners-in-china-are-still-being-used-as-organ-donors-says-inquiry/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-rights-organ-harvesting/un-urged-to-investigate-organ-harvesting-in-china-idUSKBN1W92FL

#29

juney

6 Frags – +

Blizzard with the maximum bootlickery of China

#30

figsy

6 Frags – +

https://twitter.com/SGBluebell/status/1182817588147052544 tinfoil hat time