Good Riddance, Bird. So, what happened?

We're releasing Bird.

After releasing our statement yesterday, Bird decided to block us on Discord and claim that he was in fact NOT under contract with Northern Gaming any longer. So here is the actual statement, the one that we could not make in fear of giving him the means to properly leave the contract (which he has attempted into baiting us to do for a few days).

After Scrims, Bird would randomly disappear. He cited "Pokemon Go" and "Toking with some friends" as his reasons for suddenly disappearing and refusing to come on for team discussions. When, in fact, he was on a different Discord account, scrimming with another team. This information was brought to some of my players, who accused Bird of doing just that, and he denied it over and over again, claiming they were "paranoid" and "overreacting" (For the THIRD time with NapTime alone -- This was something Bird is too familiar with). Bird then requested we spoke privately, where he went on to make claims that I knew to be false about the team environment. When I requested he raised the same concerns with the team, he was hesitant but agreed. He got one statement in before the entire team spoke up, clearly disagreeing with his outlook on the overall team environment. Bird then proceeded to leave the Discord, and remove many of the players off of his in-game friends list.

Bird and I spoke in private, where I revealed to him that I would be willing to release him from his contract under any of three conditions. The first, is that we got a proper replacement for him first. The second, is that any other organizations bought him out from us. The third, is that he waited until his contract expired. He agreed to the terms, and went back to the person who was orchestrating all of this the entire time; Pannucci.

Pannucci tried to sign what is now NG Red before they were formally under contract. When the team informed him that they would be signing with us, it would have been proper to refrain from contacting the players further until their contract was about to expire. Our contracts with our players specifically state that any communication with another organization MUST be relayed to the organization. Bird continued to be in contact with Pannucci, and failed to make that evident to us at any point in time.

Pannucci however, is the same individual who has threatened us multiple times with "Legal action" unless we "Release Bird" and has gone as far to say "I have all the paperwork drawn up if you don't release Bird, we can go that route". I requested said paperwork, and Pannucci has yet to send it, and has yet to even make a statement about it. Yet, he was also telling Bird and reporters from sources like The Score that he could not comment because his "Legal team". The fact is, that they are trying to find a way out of this before the shit hits the fan, and instead of wasting thousands of dollars on a legal battle with no real ramifications, we decided to release Bird and tell the public about the type of people him, and Pannucci (the OWNER of Empyrean) truly are.

Bird was given a bonus that he was not ever entitled to. Having not been under the contract long enough to receive pay, when I paid the rest of the players who had been around since late May, I still gave Bird a bonus as a token of good faith. He was thankful, and insisted to me time and time again that it was really cool and I did not have to do that. However, he went to claim that he was "improperly paid" and "lied to about his wages" which is completely, and absolutely false. He also claimed that he "was working in a work environment with no concern for his personal well being" and that he was "threatened on numerous occasions". For perspective, Birds claims were never brought up to me before him telling me he wanted to go play for Empyrean a few days ago. If Bird had any concerns at any point in time about these apparent "numerous threats" or the "hostile work environment" I would assume he would have came to me with concerns. Instead, he insisted he was looking forward to a team house and could not wait to start the next chapter of this team's progression.

Bird wanted out because Pannucci blinded him with a house for their team. Bird under the advice of Pannucci, has broken a multitude of contractual outlines. This includes but is not limited to:

Failing to disclose conversation with another organization.
Representing another team while under our organization
Releasing inside information about the organization to outsiders
Slandered the organization

Outside of all of those legal things, he also lied to his teammates, and intentionally screwed 5 other hard working players over, refusing to give them the opportunity to even integrate a replacement over time. To top this all off, Pannucci was the Gepetto who tried to bully his way into a 'Superstar Player'.

There are many more things to be said, and each of our players will be releasing statements and making comments over the next few days as they have been holding off on my suggestion. Now, that is lifted, and the community will get to see the truth behind this ordeal. I could not stand by and have Northern Gaming look weak, because individuals like Bird and Pannucci decided to attempt to make a mockery out of contracts, and obligations set forth in the e-sports community.

Hopefully, the community realizes that Bird will do this again when the self interest is there, and that Pannucci is in the business of intentionally screwing people over and threatening them with loose legal battles. How can you trust people if they don't honor the sanctity of contracts and moral obligations. Good luck to anyone who tries to work out a legally binding deal with those guys.

Moving forward, Bird will get no love from this organization or it's players, and he is officially a free bird. We are actively looking for a 6th to replace him, and will come back better than ever. Look for us at the top of the rankings in the coming weeks.

Thanks for being patient with us and supporting us through this time.

Mack
CEO

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