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EVO Online has been cancelled after allegations have been made against its CEO Joey “Mr. Wizard” Cuellar (via My Nintendo News).
— EVO (@EVO) July 3, 2020
Capcom, NetherRealm, Mane6, and others had pulled out of EVO Online after a story emerged that Cuellar paid “hundreds of [arcade] tokens” for underage fighting game players to jump in a pool in their underwear. “We were teenagers with no money and 100-200 tokens (20-40$ worth of tokens) was a lot,” said Twitter user Pyronlkari. “So almost all of us did it without a second thought. ‘Jump in a pool for 10 minutes for 40$? Hell yeah!’ We never really thought of it in a predatory way.” Pyronlkari added that he was allegedly paid $20 by Cuellar to expose himself in an arcade bathroom when he was seventeen years old. Cuellar has responded to the claims, and said that he “never meant to hurt anyone.”
In a statement published to Twitter, EVO’s organisers also confirmed that along with the cancellation of the event, Cuellar will “no longer be involved with EVO in any capacity. We are currently working towards his complete separation from the company and have relieved him of all responsibilities. Going forward, Tony Canon will act as CEO; in this position, he will take a leadership role in prioritizing greater accountability across EVO, both internally and at our events.”
