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The American television network ESPN2 has chosen to delay its broadcast of the EXP Apex Legends Invitational tournament, as a result of the mass shootings that occurred last weekend (via Rock Paper Shotgun).
ESPN and ABC were going to air highlights from the Apex Legends tournament on this coming Saturday and Sunday respectively. Today, an ESPN representative confirmed their decision in a statement to Rock Paper Shotgun, and explained that, ‘The decision was made out of respect for the victims and all those impacted in the immediate aftermath of the shootings and it seemed the prudent thing to do given the swirl of that moment.’
ABC announced its decision in a letter to channel affiliates, which was then shared on Twitter by esports consultant Rod Breslau. The channel also chose to delay showings of Apex Legends highlights ‘out of respect for the victims and all those impacted’ by the Texas and Ohio shootings.’
ESPN and ABC has made the decision not to air the TV broadcast of the XGames Apex Legends EXP Invitational that was scheduled for this weekend, in response to the recent mass shootings, according to an ABC Affiliate TV station source pic.twitter.com/6BMwdbk93t
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) August 8, 2019
There is no official statement from ESPN, but a source spoke to Kotaku and stated that the Apex Legends broadcast will now take place on ESPN2 on October 6, 15 and 27.
With this choice, ABC and ESPN align with the wave of public discourse that links mass shootings to violent video games. President Trump attributed the Texas and Ohio shootings to ‘gruesome and grisly video games’, and Walmart has removed advertisements for violent games from its stores, while continuing to sell guns. There is no proven relationship between video games and violence.
