Boston Uprising has signed a controversial OWL assistant coach who has a history of allegations of stealing player wages and prize money, physically hiding player contracts, and benching players for speaking out.
OWL’s offseason is wrapping up, and the 2023 Season has already seen its fair share of surprises and controversies. From Shanghai Dragon’s shocking role shifts, Dallas Fuel moving to the East, to Washington Justice’s Head Coach being accused of sexual misconduct, it’s been a dizzying stretch for the esport.
Now, Boston Uprising has announced its full roster for 2023, with a new addition to the coaching staff in the form of Ji “Jidset” Yeoung-hun as the Assistant Coach.
However, the signing comes with controversy as Jideset has historically been accused of various player misconducts during his time as a coach and manager in the Contenders scene.
The first of the allegations happened back in August 2017, before OWL existed, when Jidset allegedly released a player in LuxuryWatch Blue as retaliation for speaking out against the mismanagement of the team.
The player, Jang “Luna” Kyung-ho, was suddenly let go from the team, just months before the roster would be signed to the New York Excelsior. Jidset would go on to resign a few days after the allegations.
Current allegations against him: stealing player wages and prize money, withholding severance pay, physically hiding player contracts so they could not utilize them in a legal setting, and benching players in retaliation for them speaking up about his misconduct.
— Avast (@Avast_o) March 15, 2023
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It was only two years after the incident Luna would break his silence and reveal the full scope of his release from LW Blue in an interview with FOMOS.
He would allege that after the players signed their contracts with the team, Jidset took all the paper contracts “for safekeeping” and never returned it to the players. Jidset denied the allegations, and Luna could not take legal action as Jidset did not have the original contracts.
He also alleged that the management never split their tournament earnings and gave them to the players. And when Luna, as the team’s IGL, confronted Jidset, he retaliated by replacing him with Pine as the flex-support and benching Luna, according to his account of the situation.
Luna also alleges that the team manipulated him into not speaking to any non-Korean reporters as they claim they would not believe him.
This is not the first time The Uprising has had controversy within their team. As in 2018, former player Jonathan “DreamKazper” Sanchez was accused of sexual misconduct with a minor.
And in 2020, another player, Walid “Mouffin” Bassal was removed from the team after being accused of sexual misconduct.
