Insight Esports · @InsightEsportCA
15th Aug 2021 from TwitLonger
Addressing The Issues
To the players and community of Magic: The Gathering,
I wanted to address you personally as so many things are circulating the internet right now. I want you all to hear this from me directly, and to make sure that I am clear and concise about each and every thing I say.
I want to start by apologizing for the drama, anger, frustration, and discontentment you all have felt due to this situation with my business. I want to apologize to each and every player that has been affected by late payments. I understand and realize that promises and commitments need to be abide by and followed through. When we say payment within “x amount of days” that needs to happen. I understand the frustration we have caused in the community and I am committed to learning from this experience and will do better in the future.
I also want to address certain situations which include a Facebook status from (posted from myself), sponsorship, and a member of our staff having allegations against him.
---Facebook Status---
There was a status that I had posted nine years ago that was very upsetting to see. Seeing it has reminded me how much I have grown as a person and how I am disgusted with who I was nine years ago. I want to apologize for any hurt this status may have caused any of you and this status does not reflect who I am today. I do not condone any such language that was used in that status. I do not allow, nor will I ever allow, any type of discrimination, bullying, or misconduct toward any person or player in our events. I believe in an environment that allows for diversity and competition to thrive.
---Sponsorship---
I want to apologize to Owen Turcotte and other players that I misled into thinking we had certain sponsorships that we do not have currently. I was out of line to use certain words when speaking about these organizations and I will make sure to accurately identify and speak clearly when discussing organizations in the future. We currently work with Tier 1 Games and they are our partner moving forward.
--- Allegations Against Robert Santana---
Robert Santana has been a part of our staff from the inauguration of our business. He has helped run events on the MTG Melee platform and has been very helpful. He is not currently nor has ever been a partner or owner of this business. This business is owned by myself and me alone.
Allegations were brought forth about Rob today that needed to be addressed. Jana Amari courageously came forward and made a statement concerning how Rob has talked about her and other streamers and how this has made her feel.
I do not condone this behavior and it is irrefutable. Robert Santana is no longer a part of this organization and will not be allowed to reenter this organization in any capacity. I stand against any sort of discrimination and misconduct toward anyone. This is not okay.
Jana, thank you for stepping forward to tell your story and to tell us about your feelings.
---To All The Haters---
I want to clarify my comment about haters that I made in a Discord announcement days ago. This was in no way toward any player that was asking for payments or was giving me feedback. As a business, we receive a lot of “Hate mail” and this has nothing to do with our player base. I want to apologize for this comment as it was unprofessional and was unnecessary. Just wanted to clarify that this was not toward our player base, rather that it was toward persons who send me death threats and wish ill upon my children.
---What Are We Doing Now?---
Right now we are fulfilling our commitments to players that have won prizes in our events. We are actively working on this and will not stop until this is completed in its entirety.
Sam Rolph posed the question in our Discord. What are we going to do to make this right by the players?
Each player who is receiving a late payment is also receiving an additional 5% onto their prize. We are also going to host a free-entry $1,000 event for each player who received a late prize. Payouts are guaranteed within 48 hours and is FREE of charge for each player.
---Final Statements---
I want to apologize again about the drama that has been created surrounding us. I do not wish to leave the Magic community this way. I love the Magic community and I only started this business to help serve this community. I know that it will take time to rebuild trust among this community, but I am committed to doing so no matter how long it takes. I am committed to any process required by MTG Melee to ensure we are doing everything up to standard. I want to provide a great, inclusive, welcoming, and competitive experience for any player. Any lengths I need to go through to do this, I will do.
Before anything happens with events, we need to be 100% caught up on every late payment and ensure that no other players are affected by late payments ever again. We have taken the necessary steps, while working with Tier 1 Games, to ensure we do not ever experience these issues again.
I want to shout out MTG Melee for being so supportive of us. We have kept the owners in the loop through this whole process and we are committed to doing well by them for as long as we run events on their platform. They certainly are revolutionizing the way we play Magic from the comfort of our homes.
I want you all to know, I alone, take responsibility for all of these circumstances, situations and misunderstandings and commit to doing better in the future. If you never give me the chance to show you change, I understand. But I hope you see our progress over the coming month/years that we operate as a Tournament Organizer for Magic.
Thank you all for the TLDR. The next announcement from us will be our commitments being made true upon for each player who was affected by this. I look forward to this announcement soon and what we have in store for our next series of events after.
David Davila