#BoycottBlizzard is currently trending on social media after Blizzard Entertainment punished Hong-Kong based e-sports competitor Blitzchung, a grand-master-level player in Hearthstone, a digital card game by Blizzard. During the broadcast of the Asia-Pacific Grandmasters Competition on October 5, Blitzchung voiced out his support for Hong Kong’s protesters, shouting, “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our age!”
In response to his outburst, Blizzard banned Blitzchung from any Hearthstone competitions for a whole year while also stripping him of the $3,000 prize money that he has won in the tournament so far. Blizzard has also cut ties with the two broadcasters who interviewed Blitzchung when he made the comment. The interview has been deleted from their official channels as of writing, as well. In their announcement, Blizzard said that Blitzchung’s comments were harmful to the company.
People on social media have pledged to Boycott the company with some saying that freedom of speech should be protected and others claiming that Blizzard has banned Blitzchung to protect their business interests in China.
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