Overwatch World Cup’s Team USA and Vancouver Titans have suspended Luka “Aspire” Rolovic, their starting DPS player, amid grooming allegations.
Luke “Aspire” Rolovic, a starter for 2023’s Team USA in the Overwatch World Cup, and part of Vancouver Titans’ DPS line-up, has been suspended from Team USA for the rest of the ongoing World Cup Qualifiers and Vancouver Titans for the rest of the 2023 OWL season.
The Overwatch World Cup Qualifiers are currently ongoing, and Team USA is topping its group with a 3-0 record, at the time of writing. Should the success continue and they finish atop the standings, they will have earned a spot in the Main Event at BlizzCon later this year.
However, after grooming allegations surfaced against Team USA’s DPS starter, Aspire, he has since been removed from the roster and will be not playing in their last two qualifying matches.
— USA Overwatch World Cup 🇺🇸 (@USAOWWC) June 27, 2023
“In light of recent allegations, we have made the decision to suspend Luke “Aspire” Rolovic from the active roster,” a statement from Team USA read on June 27.
“The suspension takes effect immediately and he will not be participating in the remainder of our qualifier matches.”
With Aspire being suspended from the starting roster, Team USA is left with two other DPS players on its active roster. Isaiah “Hydron” Rodriguez, a DPS player for Toronto Defiant, and Kamden “Sugarfree” Hijada, a fellow DPS player for Vancouver Titans.
The grooming allegations were first made by an anonymous Twitter account on June 27, one that posted a Google Doc with supporting evidence through screenshots of conversations and pictures of them together.
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i was in a relationship with @/aspire_ow.tw grooming https://t.co/hWbBNQuo6T
— ? (@ExposingOW) June 26, 2023
The anonymous accuser said of their alleged relationship in the Doc, “At the time I was 16 years old, and he was 20. Our initial conversations and interactions were through Snapchat. After a few weeks, they turned much more sexual in nature with both of us exchanging pictures before I ever turned 17.”
According to the accuser, the relationship started in March 2022. From the beginning, they claimed they made their age clear to Aspire.
According to Overwatch streamer and player, Becca “Aspen” Rukavina, Vancouver Titans knew about the allegations for six months, with her giving the information to Titans’ management directly before the public allegations came out.
The Vancouver Titans announced today that Luka “Aspire” Rolovic has been released from the team following recent allegations. This decision is effective immediately and he will not be finishing the season with the Titans. We take these matters very seriously and will have no… pic.twitter.com/k1trcNMgxB
— Vancouver Titans (@VancouverTitans) June 27, 2023
On June 28, Vancouver Titans made a statement on the allegations, also deciding to release Aspire from the roster.
“The Vancouver Titans announced today that Luka “Aspire” Rolovic has been released from the teams following recent allegations,” the statement reads. “This decision is effective immediately and he will not be finishing the season with the Titans.”
The OWL season is set to re-commence on July 13 with the Summer Stage, after the World Cup Qualifiers. As of writing, Vancouver Titans does not have a second DPS, with Sugarfree being the only remaining DPS player. A replacement has not yet been announced.
Aspire is also yet to have addressed the grooming allegations directly.
