The Esports Awards, an annual celebration of the best players in competitive gaming, is under scrutiny after announcing it will move its yearly award show to Saudi Arabia. In a Tweet on Friday, the organization announced that they entered a 3-year partnership to host the event in Riyadh until 2027.
The decision resulted in the resignation of the event’s committee member, Parker “Inferro” Mackay, and commentator Alex Mendez aka “Goldenboy”.
“I will not be taking part in the Esports Awards moving forward,” Goldenboy tweeted. The COD commentator is respected for his integrity and received praise for supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
The reasons for these reactions are concerns about Saudi Arabia’s record on LGBTQ+ and women’s rights. People blame the Esports Awards for “sportswashing” their reputation in the global gaming community—and Goldenboy and Inferro are not willing to take any of this.
“Imagine you’re gay and win esports player of the year, but instead of receiving the award, you’re jailed,” one fan said. Indeed, according to laws in the country, the safety of queer attendees can’t be guaranteed. We are left to wonder if this kind of behavior is just a coincidence or a growing trend in the gaming community after Twitch fired its entire safety council last week.
However, the past has also shown that celebrities would be shielded from the kingdom’s strict laws. For example, the WWE has had openly gay wrestlers compete there without issue. The organizers have an interest in showing the country in a positive light, which means they might not enforce their laws too fiercely during the event.
The move to Saudi Arabia generated a lot of money for the Esports Awards. It is hard for a growing organization to say “no” to a huge sum like that. As long as other sponsors and participants do not step up and withdraw from the event, we will see more and more gaming events hosted under these conditions.