Sean Von Reigen / L3 Exo · @Afrokunsenpai
27th Nov 2017 from TwitLonger
Las Vegas - Jk Attempted Runover, Statement about his Apology,and His punishment
Time for me to address the enormous train wreck that was this Friday/Weekend.
For those who aren't familiar with the situation, it goes down as this -
tl;dr version - Jk tried to run over SoCal + Turtle and Technicals, with a couple of them having to barrel roll, then Jk and Turtle went at it, Jk saying "Absolutely" in response to being asked if that was on purpose.
Now for my perspective on it
After the Game Nest local, AZ, SoCal, Jk, Turtle, and Technicals were all in the parking lot deciding food, Jk decided AZ was going to a taco stand down the street. SoCal, Turtle, and Tech decided not to, and we split - them walking around the corner to leave. I was getting in the AZ car when Jk left - with 1 AZ player in his car. Nobody in the AZ car saw which direction Jk had left when he did - it was fast. We chose a direction and found the SoCal/T/T group, and they explained to us how Jk literally just tried to run them over, and sped up on them.
We met up with Jk at the taco stand, started ordering food, and things were fairly quiet for a few minutes until SoCal/T/T caught up on the other side of the street, and Turtle immediately crosses and starts yelling at JK. Threats were made on Turtle's part, but that will be addressed later. As stated above, in response to Turtle asking if it was on purpose, Jk's response was "absolutely". Now, a number of people are wondering if this response was sarcastic. However, I was the one who broke up Jk and Turtle, and after SoCal/T/T left, I continued conversation with Jk. He went on to explain how "They're not friends, they're business associates, and need to know their place.", along with a large number of other very concerning statements. One of which (This was during argument with Turtle), was that he was not afraid of death, for himself or anyone else. Back to the solo conversation, he stated he had "lost everything" and didn't care. And that when he was at his lowest, nobody was there for him, and continued on to say that all that matters to him is success, and if you're not one of his tools to reach that, you're pointless. Along with more along those lines, when I went to offer a final piece of advice, he turned his back to me and said "meaningless conversation". That was the last I've heard from him directly during the night of the incident - which apparently more reinforcing the case of him trying to run over them on purpose was said in the car ride home, but given that I was not there for that, I won't add them to my statement.
Before I get into punishment, my thoughts on him being allowed to attend the tournament on Friday, and general reactions/responses to the event, I want to address his "Apology".
I am absolutely DISGUSTED by Jk's "Apology".
For those who want to read it, here is the twitlonger - don't bother looking for the tweet as the only thing it says beyond the twitlonger is the word "Apology".
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sqbb5j
The only thing his "Apology" is, is making excuses for his actions, and trying to save face to the public.
To anyone who would like to say otherwise, my biggest reason for saying this is that (From my knowledge so far, according to victims of the scenario), Jk has made NO attempt to apologize to any of the actual parties involved directly. He didn't even bother to tag them in his "Apology". He played up the situation as a "meme", didn't deny a single claim against him, only pinning claims against the other party in response (The threats from Turtle), and after all of this his "Apology" is completely half-assed.
Now - for the handling and management of the situation.
I will start by saying in my opinion Jk should NOT have been allowed to attend the event Saturday night.
He made our out of state guests uncomfortable after the incident, and while information was being gathered, the potential charges of what he did would be considered ATTEMPTED MURDER.
Some are saying both sides are exaggerating, but considering that something that severe is on the table, and at the time Jk also made NO attempt to refute the claims, there was NO reason he should have been allowed to set foot in the venue.
As for the time it was taking to come to a decision as to what to do with Jk, it has come to my attention that there has been some shady dealings, with 1 or more people claiming to be witnesses to the actual incident that had ABSOLUTELY no possible way of being there, that I can attest to myself. So, with some mixed testimonies, there was a lot of information gathering that had to be done, and that was going on through the Downtown Grand tournament as it was.
However, the fact that we allowed Jk to compete in that tournament despite the circumstances, and despite putting our guests at risk, is a COMPLETE disgrace to our values and community.
As for his punishment, while there has been some controversy over the length - Jk IS currently banned from most if not all tournaments in Las Vegas. The length of time is indefinite, but due to the fact that Jk DOES seem to be in a state of mental instability, the decision has been made that if Jk can get professionally certified that he has been mentally rehabilitated, his ban will be reviewed for potential lifting, along with a few more conditions.
As for Turtle, there WERE serious/death threats made, and we do not tolerate that. However, given that Turtle WAS able to restrain himself without my involvement/before I intervened, that he accepted what he did was wrong, and this being his first offense, he has been issues a strong warning.
As a final note, Jk's demeanor, statements, generally mentality etc. when I spoke to him after the incident screamed sociopathic to me personally. Given, it seems events led to this behavior, but that does NOT excuse his actions. And we as a community cannot stand by what he did. And for the comments that I know may come, just because he's a "Top Player" or "Entertaining" or anything else, does NOT give him an excuse to endanger our friends, guests, and community, and continuing competing.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.