With the rise of eSports, it’s inevitable that scandals and drama would also tag along for the journey. Then again, that could be said about any competitive environment. Recently, one such situation escalated to a point of no return, leading to a player from popular Counter Strike: Global Offensive team Immortals being terminated. The last two weeks have definitely been a whirlwind for the CS GO team, but where did it all start? Let’s recap.

Vito Giuseppe, otherwise known by his in-game name, Kng, was one of the most popular players on the Immortals. Joined by brothers Lucas and Henrique “HEN1” Teles, Ricardo “Boltz” Prass, and Lucas “Steel” Lopes, the team was packed with talent that provided CS:GO fans with excitement. The future looked bright and full of success.

Unfortunately, things began to unravel on September 10 for the Immortals at the Dreamhack Montreal CS:GO tournament when Giuseppe and the Teles brothers showed up late to a finals match, resulting in them forfeiting the first round of a best-of-three. However, the same three players were also late to their semifinal match against Counter Logic Gaming earlier that day.

While being tardy is surely worthy of suspension, the Immortals organization deemed other means of disciplinary action necessary. Each of the players involved were fined one month’s salary, while their share of the team’s second place winnings were also withheld. Both the salary and prize money for each member of the team being penalized was then donated to the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Montreal.

In a September 21 Facebook post, after everything had gone down, Kng attributed the tardiness that got the snowball rolling to exhaustion. He claimed that the team was tired from a tournament the weekend before, which then led them to sleep through their alarms during the Dreamhack Montreal tournament. However, other teams seemed to think otherwise. Counter Logic Gaming coach Steve “Ryu” Rattacasa attributed it to partying the night before, but later clarified his statement, stating he had heard it from multiple sources that morning and wasn’t completely sure of the reason behind the Immortals’ lateness.

When the fire isn't burning hot enough 🔥 pic.twitter.com/RqRu8PIAJE

— DeKay (@dekay) September 10, 2017

It was a tweet by CLG’s Pujan “FNS” Mehta that evoked the response from Kng seen above. After the first finals match to which Vito and the Teles brothers were late, Mehta, having been on the losing end of the semifinal match earlier that day, tweeted his frustrations, saying “Worst part is I lost to a team with 3 players who were hung over.” Naturally, frustration levels were high.

Being late for two finals matches weren’t enough to get anyone suspended, but the seven words that Giuseppe tweeted and then deleted were. The Immortals CEO only responded with a tweet saying “Apologies to #IMTCSGO fans. We will address this internally. Actions should have consequences.” It took nearly two weeks for the company to provide an official statement, but when the video of CEO Noah Whinston was released, everyone learned of everything that took place between the original incident and then. Check it out below:

Following an internal investigation, CEO @NWhinston outlines Immortals’ decision on recent issues surrounding the organization’s CS:GO team. pic.twitter.com/Qg0MNBd5mP

— Immortals (@Immortals) September 22, 2017

In the video, Whinston details everything that is going on. Upon learning of the tweet heard around the eSports world, Noah wanted to terminate Kng’s contract, but was talked out of it by the other players and coach. A call was scheduled for September 18, the day before an EPICENTER 2017 qualifying match against CLG, but Kng was a no-show. This led to the suspension of Giuseppe, resulting in him not being able to participate in any further matches until he discussed it with Noah.

After losing the first round in the best-of-three qualifier, the Teles brothers informed Giuseppe that he was cleared to play. Unfortunately, that was simply not the case. Kng played the next two maps, winning the match for team Immortals, but it came at a price. His contract was terminated immediately for violating the punishment agreed upon by Whinston and the players. As for the Teles brothers, they are still on the Immortals roster, but will remain benched until they cease their protest, or until their contracts are purchased by another team.

There’s no telling how long it will take for the Immortals organization to recover from this controversy, but they’ll have until next year’s tournament for which they have a qualifying spot to get their house in order. In the meantime, keep it tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers as this story develops, and for other gaming news, check out the following:

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What say you, gamers? Do you believe the punishment fits the crime? Should Vito Giuseppe be banned for that kind of behavior, or will Kng live to fight another day? Sound off in the comments section below, and be sure to follow DFTG on Twitter for live gaming and entertainment news 24/7!