This year’s Evo tournament event, moved online due the COVID-19 pandemic, was set to start on 4 July, but it has been cancelled last-minute due to sexual assault allegations against Evo CEO and co-founder Joey “Mr. Wizard” Cuellar.
Evo announced the cancellation on Twitter this morning, less than 24 hours after veteran competitor Mikey “Crackpr0n” Pham released a blog post accusing Cuellar of repeated inappropriate behaviour with teenage boys. The alleged abuse took place at an arcade complex popular for fighting game competitions in the late 90s and early 2000s.
— EVO (@EVO) July 3, 2020
Prior to the event’s cancellation, a number of companies had already pulled out of the competition following Pham’s accusations, including Capcom, Bandai Namco, and NetherRealm.
Cuellar has now been replaced as CEO by other Evo co-founder Tony “Ponder” Cannon. Cuellar responded to the allegations by posting a tweet apologising for his past actions, saying that he “never meant to hurt anyone”. Y’know, the usual.
Anyone that purchased Evo Online badges will be issued refunds.
Via The Verge.