Allerede på førstedagen ved EMS One Katowice har der været drama. I Counter-Strike: Global Offensive har der allerede været rigtig tætte opgør, som er mundet ud i overtid. Nu er der dog også kommet drama hos folkene bag ved eventen, ESL.

Forud for eventen blev de folk, der skulle caste, annonceret. Heriblandt fandt man velkendte Duncan "Thorin" Shields, der blandt andet var at finde ved Dreamhack Winter 2013. Dog fik han udtrykt sig på en måde angående Polen i talkshowet Unfiltered, som ESL slet ikke finder acceptabel.

Derved er det nu følgende personer, der skal caste EMS One Katowice:

  • Sean Charles - Host
  • Lauren "Pansy" Scott - Commentator
  • Jason Kaplan - Commentator
  • Stuart "TosspoT" Saw - Commentator
  • Scott "SirScoots" Smith - Analyst
  • Joshua "steel" Nissan - Observer
Helt præcis sagde Duncan følgende i showet.
Well it’s in Poland and I think the tickets are pretty cheap so I assume it will be sold out.. Because what the fuck else is going on in Poland? And they’ve got that existential hole of being Polish to try and fill with some esports.

Maybe, it’s like when you have the Olympics somewhere in Africa and they can all pretend they’re part of the developed world for two weeks, and then everyone just leaves and they’re still in the dirt.

Poland is one of the worst countries in Europe, bro. It’s one of those countries where when they opened up that Schengen Agreement for European countries, where if you’re in the EU you can move freely between countries.. Like, the second they opened that up everyone in Poland was just like “Cool, let’s get the fuck out of Poland” and they just went to the next countries.

Put it this way, it’s another place also where there’s constantly news stories where at their football games they have straight up racism aimed at all black players, with the whole crowd like chanting stuff or throwing banana peels. That happened like 50 years ago in the developed European countries - that shit happens, like, now in Poland.

If you hold the event somewhere shitty, then it’s going to seem awesome and loads more people will come.
Talsmanden fra ESL, Paul "ReDeYe" Chaloner, har været ude at kommentere på sagen og siger følgende omkring deres valg:
Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields has been removed from the analyst/commentary position for the EMS One Katowice broadcast due to his comments about Poland that he made on a recent podcast ‘Unfiltered’.

ESL does not stand by or tolerate acts of racism, xenophobia or other forms of discrimination and does not wish to be associated or employ those who make any such comments. We are deeply upset that a long time member of the esports community would display such ignorance and make highly inappropriate comments about an entire nation.

Thorin’s tirade has offended not only the live audience of the show he was hired to work on, but the entire Polish production team that he was going to be a part of.

I have spoken to Thorin directly this morning. It has been made clear to him that his comments were totally unacceptable and inconsistent with ESL’s ethos.

It is unfortunate that we have to do this on the first day of the EMS One Katowice show, but we are hard at work to replace Thorin on the show and rest assured are determined to bring a great show regardless.
Duncan har ikke selv været ude at kommentere på sagen endnu, men hvis det sker, så opdaterer vi selvfølgelig nyheden. Hvad synes I om valget?