The Hong Kong Standoff Is Dragging in Unexpected Players

First it was the NBA. Now it is esports that has found itself in the middle of the standoff between Chinese leaders and the Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters.

The mega-U.S. gaming company Activision Blizzard is under fire after its one-year suspension of a top professional esports player after he spoke out in favor of the Hong Kong protesters during a postgame interview.

Ng Wai Chung, known as Blitzchung, lives in Hong Kong and is one of the top players in the Asia-Pacific region of the online card deck game Hearthstone, which is based on Activision Blizzard’s widely popular World of Warcraft and has a user base of more than 100 million people.

After Ng won a Hearthstone game in a recent Asia-Pacific Grandmasters tournament, he appeared for a post-game interview in a respirator mask and goggles, much like those worn by the Hong Kong protesters, and shouted a popular pro-democracy slogan, “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times.”

That protest cost him. According to Yahoo News, Ng said on Twitter that he lost $10,000 of prize earnings from the tournament.

You can see the interview below:

[BREAKING] Hong Kong Hearthstone player @blitzchungHS calls for liberation of his country in post-game interview:https://t.co/3AgQAaPioj

@Matthieist #Hearthstone pic.twitter.com/DnaMSEaM4g

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