Valorant player and ex-Overwatch League pro Jay “Sinatraa” Won has been suspended from the North American Valorant Champions Tour after being allegations of sexual abuse from a past partner.
In an extensive, nine-page Google Doc, Cleo Hernandez went into detail about the two’s nine-month relationship, where she describes sexual encounters where Won pressured her into doing things she didn’t want to, disregarded her protests, including audio clips of Hernandez can be heard saying “no” while a male voice stated to be Won ignored her, and screenshots of text messages said to be between the two.
Following Hernandez’s statement, Alex Francois, the Global Head of Competitive Operations for Valorant at Riot Games, released a statement on the Valorant Champions Tour’s Twitter account confirming Won had been suspended for the duration of an internal investigation.
“We are aware of the current situation regarding Jay Won (Sinatraa) and have launched an investigation. Per our existing competitive rules and investigative process, a decision has been made to suspend Won throughout the investigation and therefore he will not be able to compete this weekend.”
— VALORANT Champions Tour NA ???????? (@valesports_na) March 10, 2021
Won has since responded to the allegations, saying in a Twitlonger post, saying he and Hernandez both remember the relationship differently and denied the assault allegation.
“It is clear from Cleo’s recent post that she recalls our relationship differently than I do. What we do agree on is that it was unhealthy for the both of us. I apologize to Cleo and regret how things ended, but I never assaulted her in any way. I am fully cooperating with the investigations and providing the full audio and video clips Cleo referenced in her post.”
Won’s team, the Los Angeles Sentinels, released its own statement, confirming the player had been suspended from the team while the investigation was ongoing.
We are aware of the current situation regarding Jay “Sinatraa” Won and have launched an investigation internally. While the investigation is pending, he is suspended from the team.
We will provide a further update once the investigation has concluded.
— Sentinels (@Sentinels) March 10, 2021
While Won was most recently known for playing Valorant, the Overwatch League has responded to the allegations, as well. Allowing refunds for players who bought the “Alien” skin for hero Zarya that was designed following Won’s being crowned MVP of the 2019 Overwatch League season. The skin will then be removed from those players’ collections, but anyone keeping it will notice the Overwatch League Championship and MVP badges will be removed from the skin in a future update.
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) March 11, 2021
