Blizzard has suspended Jon “Orange” Westberg regarding a sexual assault conviction in 2019.
Jon “Orange” Westberg is a professional Hearthstone player hailing from Sweden who has been served a one-year suspension by Blizzard for a sexual assault charge in 2018.
The official charge against him was “sexual molestation,” which “applies to a person who exposes themselves to another person in a manner that is liable to cause discomfort, or who otherwise molests a person by word or deed in a way that is liable to violate that person’s sexual integrity.”
The unnamed complainant said that after a night of drinking with Westberg and two other friends, Westberg tried to force himself on her while she was sleeping.
While Westberg agreed that he put his hand beneath the complainant’s bra while she slept, he denied being on top of her or forcing his hand into her pants.
The court found both Westberg and the complainant “credible,” but rape accusations against Westberg were rejected due to unclear memories resulting from alcohol consumption—enough to make both vomit before the incident—and a lack of other evidence. However, in a 2019 conviction, the sexual assault accusation was upheld as well as some minor drug charges.
Blizzard was reportedly uninformed of the incident until recently, which explains why the accusations and subsequent suspension were delayed.
Westberg has since issued an apology stating he is going to “step away from the scene for some time and evaluate things.”
He announced the suspension himself via Twitter on the 17th of this month stating:
“I am needless to say devastated by this. But I don’t want it to seem like I’m looking for sympathy. Please just reserve your speculations and judgement for now. This is not something that is easy to talk about and I want to make sure I do it the right way. Thanks for understanding.”
His apology explains the circumstances surrounding his “life’s lowest point”.
In his apology, he states:
“I was dealing with a lot of mental health issues but instead of seeking out therapy I turned towards several self-destructive behaviors.
I never had the intent of hurting others but several underlying issues together with me delving deeper and deeper with these behaviors led to me hurting someone else immensely and that’s my biggest regret in life. Sadly it all had to come down to something this drastic for me to finally seek help.
The legal process which took about a year is the most traumatic event of my life so far. I came to understand during it how much pain I inflicted on someone else and that there was no one else to blame but myself for it and that I would have to re-evaluate myself completely.”
Many people appear to support him or are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because his actions have already been punished by the Swedish legal system in the form of penalties, legal fees, and damages to the complainant.
Westberg’s apology though, as well as the fact that he kept his offense hidden for so long while publicly criticizing other players facing misconduct accusations, drew criticism from several high-profile Hearthstone players. With one stating:
“I’ve said a lot of very positive things about Orange on Hearthstone broadcasts. If the victim is still somehow involved in the scene and has had to listen to that, causing further undue trauma, I’m sorry. That’s all I have right now, but please don’t try and minimize this.”
There appear to be an increasing number of occurrences like this in the gaming business, which is concerning but also encouraging because we now know the truth will come out in these cases and those responsible will be punished.