Update: Second Wind issues statement on Ellie controversy.
Lots of controversy has found it’s way to the Overwatch Contenders North America and the team Second Wind. This comes after the organization released the player “Ellie” after only 10 days with the organization due to “some unforeseen reactions.”
Many were quick to say that the reason for the release was due to ongoing harassment to Ellie due to her being a female. However, over the past day that has taken an interesting turn. This stems from Cloud9 streamer Becca “Aspen” Rukavina alleging on her stream that Ellie was actually not only a fake identity, it wasn’t even being played by a female. Aspen claimed that the account was actually being used by an Overwatch ladder player who goes by the name “Punisher.”
Since this, Esports consultant and insider Rod “Slasher” Breslau took to Twitter to say that Ellie has confirmed to only being 17-years-old (which is allowed in Overwatch Contenders), and has not been the only one playing. Slasher also said that Blizzard were conducting a meeting with Second Wind players and management and that none of this information had been disclosed to them prior to these allegations.
Rod was also able to obtain screenshots of a private conversation between ‘Punisher’ a female Overwatch player who goes by ‘Catsui’. These screenshots shows Punisher in a Battlenet conversation under Ellie and using this ‘egirl smurf’ to grief Overwatch League and other top players. Slasher also said that Catsui told him over the phone this as essentially a ‘social experiment’ and proposed the idea to her and several other female Overwatch players.
It is unknown at the time of publishing if more than one person used the Ellie account as speculated.