Well, if there's a big lesson of the past week, it's that cretinous online behavior may not be illegal in and of itself, but that doesn't mean you won't face consequences for engaging in it. Take the case of Ilyes "Stephano" Satouri, a member of the StarCraft team for Evil Geniuses, the renowned pro gaming clan.

Last week, Satouri (who is French) was caught in a livestreamed game saying that "I have abused of a child," and, asked if that meant he had sex with an underage person (14 years old), confirmed it. See this image (with profanity), taken from the one above.

It's still proof of nothing. Absent a victim or some other confirmation, it could be a sick joke, or the joking escalation of something lost in translation between English and French. [Update] GameSpot notes that Satouri indeed said, via Twitter, that his remarks were a "private joke, nothing serious."


The embarrassment, however, rated a full month's suspension, without pay, from Evil Geniuses. The team handed down the suspension today, and Satouri has accepted it and apologized for his behavior.

"French Zerg player Ilyes 'Stephano' Satouri has been suspended without pay for the remainder of October, following his recent inappropriate comments," Evil Geniuses said in a statement. "He will be ineligible to participate in all online and offline competitions during the month of October, including the upcoming GD Invitational and DreamHack Bucharest tournaments for which he was previously signed up."


Said Satouri: "I want to very sincerely apologize to all of my fans, my teammates and management at EG, all of EG's sponsors, and the rest of the community for my comments last week. They were insensitive, inappropriate, way over the line, and are deserving of the serious ramifications I have received from my team. I accept responsibility for my mistake, and I will be more careful in the future."

However, notes Evil Geniuses: "The decision to suspend him, without pay, for the rest of October is final, but the situation is still being reviewed internally at EG, and we do not consider the matter closed as of yet."


The full statement is at the link. GameSpot has more details as well.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly attributed a remark to Satouri. He said "14 y.o." in reply to a question asking if he had slept with a minor, not "Yes."


The image in this post was cropped to remove the webcam picture of someone observing the chat in question. The person is not Satouri.

Evil Geniuses Suspends Ilyes 'Stephano' Satouri for October (Statement) [Team Liquid, thanks Francis N.]


StarCraft II pro gamer Stephano suspended and fined for sexual comments [GameSpot]