During the Chengdu Hunters match against the Seoul Dynasty on July 11, one fan managed to get on camera with an explicit sign that probably shouldn’t have been broadcast to tens of thousands of viewers all around the world.
The Chengdu Hunters managed to beat the Seoul Dynasty 3-2 on July 11 and advance in the Summer Showdown playoffs.
A great win for the team to be sure, but viewers who tuned into the match were treated to a shot of one fan’s poster that probably should have stayed as just an idea. You can even see it in the VOD on YouTube, at about the 4:45 mark.
I am proud to be a @ChengduHunters fan. pic.twitter.com/qJPnRud1e7
— Guipsy (@GuipsyOff) July 11, 2021
As you can see in the tweet above, the sign depicts a tiger (Seoul’s mascot) getting sexually assaulted by a panda bear (Chengdu’s mascot), so it’s no wonder quite a few people weren’t pleased when it popped up on the stream.
“I’m sorry but why tf is the broadcast showing images like these?” OWL fan gatamchun tweeted. “Does the Chinese live event cameraman need to be explicitly told that ‘fan signs graphically depicting sexual assault as a metaphor for winning’ shouldn’t be captured for broadcast????”
A lot of people agreed with them, calling the poster “gross” and definitely in bad taste. When it was first tweeted by @GuipsyOff though, the official Chengdu Hunters account replied with the smiling emoji surrounded by hearts.
This one definitely should have stayed in the drafts, Chengdu.
To be fair, the social media manager for the Hunters might not have seen the sign in question in the screenshot before it was too late and the tweet was already sent. They did delete it shortly after though, possibly after they realized what was on the poster.
Considering the drama we’ve seen over signs in Overwatch League in the past, and the fact it’s touted as a “family friendly” broadcast (remember when matches were on Disney Channel?) having this slip through the cracks and somehow make it on stream has understandably confused and even angered a lot of longtime fans.
