Chengdu Hunter player speaks inappropriately to underaged streamer

Olivia Richman Published 19/04/2019

Chengdu Hunters player Zhang “YangXiaoLong” Zhihao was fined one month’s salary for making inappropriate comments to an underaged streamer.

“Aspen” is a popular Overwatch streamer who is currently partnered with Cloud9. During a recent match that was streamed on 17-year-old Aspen’s channel, YangXiaoLong told Aspen that fellow Chengdu Hunters player Ding “Ameng” Menghan said Aspen was his second wife.

Aspen groaned in response to the comment. She wrote “LUL” in the channel’s cat. Ameng responded to YangXiaoLong’s comment with a question mark. He later apologized for his teammate’s behavior in an Overwatch DM to Aspen.

“So sry. He like to play jokes. He brain problems,” Ameng wrote to her.

Aspen responded with “sbb is silly.”

Ameng repeated, “He brain problems.”

Regarding YangXiaoLong’s unwarranted remarks in-game, the Chengdu Hunters released an official statement on Twitter. The organization apologized to Aspen and everyone else involved in the situation.

“We have already severely reprimanded and educated our player on his misbehavior,” they said.

The team then imposed a one month’s salary fine for the comment, as well as the player’s second stage bonus. If a similar mistake is made in the future, the team continued, the punishment would be doubled.

“Chengdu Hunters will take this as a lesson to more thoroughly educate each of our players, and prevent such incidents from happening again,” the team said.

YangXiaoLong also issued an apology of his own. He admitted that he’s developed a “bad habit of bad mouthing others” over the past few years “due to his immaturity.” The 22-year-old said he was aware that it caused a lot of distress to the team’s fans and the team itself.

“The entire situation started solely due to my mistake, and led me to realize my own faults. Not only is it disrespectful to Aspen, Ameng, and Saebyeolbe, it caused discomfort amongst the fans,” he said. “Once again, I extend my heartfelt apologies to Aspen, Ameng, and Saebyeolb, and anyone who has been paying attention to this.”

YangXiaoLong said he would not only be “readily accepting” the punishment, but “turning a new leaf.” He concluded the apology by saying he will bet his entire professional career that he can change.

But YangXiaoLong wasn’t the only on taking this incident very seriously. Head Coach Xingrui “RUI” Wang said that if something like this happens again, he’ll be the first to make sure YangXiaoLong retires.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

View full profile