Nintendo strips esports team of world champion title after old private messages leak online
NINTENDO has stripped team Jackpot of the Splatoon 3 World Championship title after old messages were leaked online.
Jackpot won the 2024 Splatoon 3 World Championship, which took place in April and featured six teams that won the championship title for their region.
The winning team representing the USA won 11 out of 14 matches to take home the crown.
However, Nintendo has since released a statement vacating the team from its champion position.
The statement reads: “It has come to our attention that certain members of team Jackpot, the team that recently won the Splatoon 3 World Championship, acted in a manner that is not in line with our Community Guidelines while playing the Splatoon 3 game.
“As a result, team Jackpot’s win will be considered vacated, and the team will not receive trophies associated with the event.
“Additionally, the in-game Splashtag banner commemorating their win will be adjusted via an upcoming software update.
“Nintendo cares deeply about our players and our community, and we take our responsibility to uphold our Community Guidelines seriously.”
Private messages and clips from streams surfaced showing members of the team making racist and homophobic jokes.
Team Jackpot players used slurs against members of these communities and made statements such as “I’m joining the KKK.”
Following Nintendo’s statement, some members have withdrawn from social media while one pro player, Leafi, has apologised for their comments.
They claim that the racist comments come from 2021 when they were 13 and they did not realise the severity of the things they said.
They also blame the group of friends they were hanging out with who normalised this language and behaviour.
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