Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment

Most pros’ careers end in injury, deteriorating mechanical skill, or just when their interest in competing runs dry. Toronto Esports’ Matt “Dellor” Vaughn opted for a different end: A very long, very public stream of racial slurs during an Overwatch game.

Vaughn, a 28-year-old adult, was playing a ranked match in Overwatch. His opponent’s Widowmaker was making a few too many accurate shots, and Vaughn took umbrage. His response was to yell the N-word into his microphone using the game’s voice chat system, as the rest of his team listened on.

Below is the video (via PVP Live), though be warned, he really goes on for a while, literally repeating the N-word for just shy of 30 seconds with a few adjectives near the end, and the audio can get a bit loud.

What Vaughn seemingly didn’t realize was that he was streaming to his Twitch followers, one of which was quick to capture and upload the rant in its entirety. Toronto Esports responded by releasing Vaughn:

“Toronto Esports is an organization built on inclusivity, and we have always had a zero- tolerance policy for any forms of discrimination,” said President Ryan Pallett. “Immediately upon learning of the incident, the player was interviewed, admitted to the offence, and was notified that his contract with the organization was being terminated”


In classic esports fashion, Vaughn gave his version of events on TwitLonger, where he both expressed remorse—“I fucked up and deserve to be dropped from Toronto Esports”—while also seeming to miss the point. His laundry list of excuses for why he repeatedly said the N-word—he was tired, his internet was lagging, the Widowmaker was cheating, he was angry—leads to his point: He is not racist, just upset, and so he said the most offensive thing that came into his mind.

His Twitch channel has already been shut down for terms of service violations. (When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Twitch stated they do not comment on TOS violations.)


And how will Vaughn attempt to come back from being dropped from his team because of a racist tirade? He won’t. On Twitter, Vaughn announced he was done with esports: