Ajax parts ways with TSM following controversial tweet

#1

Yndi

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The internet never forgets...

#2

WeepZurkon

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auTSM EleGiggle

#3

Sideshow

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Completely ridiculous situation if Ajax's perspective is the whole story.

#4

harsha

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left my opinion out of the piece but if what ajax says it's true, i think it's pretty dumb that he's out. he wasn't even being racist himself, just quoting a drunk streamer in an attempt to be humorous. was it dumb? yeah. kickworthy? hell no.

#6

cmttt

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Completely justified from TSM's perspective. Any time you apply for a job you can bet your employer is going to google you, search up your history on social media etc. to make sure you're a candidate that matches the company's culture. TSM didn't seem to do enough due diligence before signing Ajax but they are completely within their rights to back out after learning of this. Ajax is not the first and certainly not the last person to lose their job over something stupid they did on social media.

TSM really needs to do better due diligence though. This is not the first time something like this has happened.

#7

Sideshow

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That's a terrible attitude to have and a crazy standard to hold. He deleted the tweet less than an hour before sending it out and he wasn't representing a brand at that point at all. Looking into someone's past - and even worse someone's deleted past - as 'proof' that they don't fit your brand or will harm your image is an awful precedent to set. People make mistakes and people change; in a medium where everything is recorded, namely esports and the internet, you can't hold people to everything they've written and remove all the context (in this situation, it being a quote of somebody else with the profanity removed).

If he had been representing TSM at the time, fair enough. He wasn't. Presumably he wouldn't. You argue as if this one deleted, quoted, censored tweet should stop him ever getting onto a pro team. Reasonable!

#9

cmttt

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I don't know what to tell you....it's how the real world works? You don't have to agree with TSM, but it doesn't mean that the organization doesn't have a right to do what they feel is correct for their brand.

There are people that have been fired for doing or saying way less. Employment at will. For example, did you know that getting caught wearing any competitor brands (Adidas, etc.) if you work for Nike is grounds for dismissal, no matter how good of an employee you are? You may think that's ridiculous, but people need to understand what they are getting themselves into. At the very least Ajax is acknowledging his mistake in posting the tweet, but it doesn't change the fact that he was still the one that posted it. Hopefully he and others can learn from this mistake.

Also, "deleting" something because you recognize the stupidity doesn't excuse you from posting it in the first place. It is a pretty good reflection on that person regardless of how you want to look at it. The screenshot in question had someone replying basically telling Ajax to take down the tweet because "you will never get picked up by a org like this", and hey, guess what........

#8

harsha

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certainly, but the kid's 19. they could have just lectured him imo, he at least had the sense to delete it after realizing it could be misconstrued.

regardless, the entire situation is pretty dumb and ajax should never have made that tweet.

#10

cmttt

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Doesn't excuse it. Character is extremely important for most companies, and posting this is a good reflection of his character.

I mean, that's just my opinion....but its reflected by most companies. For reference I work at a large firm that has a lot of F500 clients..... I don't work in eSports though.

#5

RobotWizard

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TSM need to do some research before they jump in on teams jeez. They can not get away from controversies in OW

#11

ChrizTahFah

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If they want to kick ajax for that, maybe some of these orgs should watch the streams of some of the players under their "brand." I don't think they'd like what they see. I feel like directly flaming teammates is worse than quoting a drunk streamer. That's just me though.

#12

Sideshow

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Whether or not it's done in the "real world" doesn't make it reasonable or intelligent to do so!

#13

cmttt

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"Reasonable" or "intelligent" is relative, but everyone is entitled to their opinion, including TSM.

#14

phrax

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i don't think everyone is entitled to their opinion if their opinion isn't really justifiable and harms careers. a deleted tweet quoting someone else's slurs (which were censored!) is not in any way acceptable grounds for kicking someone from a team. nor is "having sketchy clips" which afaik is the extent of mykl's offenses. it's counterproductive for the industry and unfair to the players to set such an unreasonable standard.

#16

harsha

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the difference here is that mykl regularly conducts himself in a less than savory manner and was never picked up. he was not kicked from a team.

#15

seaDee

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While I have no strong opinion on his dismissal either way, TSM certainly has the right to decide who they employ or not. Whether you personally disagree with their standards does not matter. The org is their house and their members have to play by their rules if they want to be/stay employed and become a face of the organization. The situation sucks for Ajax. I feel bad for him for ruining his chance with this org via a lapse in judgement on his part, but TSM has every right to release him.

#17

Taimou

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I wish they cut the kid some slack :--/ Dude literally has done nothing wrong.

#27

twerp

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(coming from the guy who unironically drops the n-word on stream xD)

#18

penda

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mykl wasn't picked up because of his past with cheating (idk the details)
TSM cares a lot about their brand so they want their players squeaky clean before picking them up I don't agree with their choice but I have to respect it.

#19

tabfan

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if you want the esports daddies' money you gotta play by their rules

sorry guys but no more trophy stealing or standing on chairs, or going into mumble during halftime to interrupt a cast of your match, and posting breivik memes is probably not gonna fly anymore either

#24

nope

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if they want to actually have good teams that might win something they have to not be incredibly picky about insignificant shit, as well

#29

ghos7ayama

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RIP the hottest memes in TF2 history

#20

Enryu910

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just read the longer version, this is just shit-talking ... snitches are scumbags ... careful people when you are around them .. who knows with all the overly PC culture these days ..

#21

SKYTRiXSHA

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If taimou didnt get kicked from the dank memes, i think ajax would deserve spot in TSM.

But dunno, maybe there is more than just that in background?

u n l u c k y

#22

SKYTRiXSHA

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also just read the tweetlonger, what a meme

#23

famikins

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I think it would have been best off if TSM had simply given him a very stern warning. Something like a temporary suspension even before he played his first match. Something that let him know he's expected to maintain a certain level of professionalism (even though I personally don't think this shit is serious at all).

Completely removing him from the team is harsh, no two ways about it. Especially since TSM is partially to blame for not doing their research as other posters have stated above.

#25

yuki

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Just quoting someone cussing and censoring it is enough to get you kfcd? Rofl.

Next thing you know people will be removed from their orgs from using such profanity as "wtf" and "bs". What a lame sequence of events.

#26

mok_sori

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If this is the sole reason he was removed I really think TSM made an insane choice. Mostly because I think it's more damaging to their image to remove him after he signed for one tweet than having a player who tweeted (and then promptly deleted) something bad once. As far as I know he didn't have a bad image in the scene whatsoever and this just mostly looks like a shitty thing to do to a good player who made a relatively small mistake.

#28

lee

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TSM's player relations

BrokeBack

#30

Blue

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what if this was all a conspiracy...what if gods purposely sent the message tso ajax could be a free agent so his best bud seagull could pick him up :thinking:

#31

SKYTRiXSHA

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Ajax will be toptier player for team ÄN ÄR GEE

#32

Garth_Nelson

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Tough for Ajax that one mistake could make it very difficult for him to join a respectable team.

#33

Wallhugger

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I agree NRG is not a respectable team at all 4Head