For a time earlier this week, pro Smash player Jason “Bizzarro Flame” Yoon was surely regretting he’d ever chosen a porn site as his sponsor.
Last month, Yoon was rattled during a major tournament in Florida, CEO 2015, after his team’s branding was abruptly banned from the event. He never made it out of the group stage. Then, on Tuesday, reports surfaced that Yoon was threatening to withdraw from an Evo promotional side event, Salty Suite, if the organizers didn’t let him use his Team YP (that’s “YouPorn”) tag.
It’s made for a bumpy entry into esports for YouPorn, which started sponsoring teams and players late last year. But in this case, at least, it appears everyone can relax.
As one of the top Ganondorf players in the world, Yoon’s poor placement at CEO in June left a sour note. As the team’s sole Smash Bros player, he knows one of his primary roles is to promote the team well—and appearing on Salty Suite would be a great opportunity.
However, Yoon had a sinking feeling that he might be subjected to similar treatment as he did at CEO. After an initial discussion with Calvin “GimR” Lofton, owner of VGBootCamp—the organization in charge of Salty Suite—Yoon was left with the impression that he’d again be blocked from using his team’s branding, hence his threat to withdraw.
Lofton quickly responded, however, that Yoon’s assumption was far from accurate. In a post on Reddit, Lofton explained that he was “trying to make it work,” and that the discussion was still ongoing.
This morning, Yong competed at Evo alongside his “YP” tag without issue. VGBootCamp and Team YouPorn have yet to respond with answers about whether the same holds true for the Salty Suite, but presumably, Team YouPorn will finally get its big break.
Update July 17, 2pm CT: According to YouPorn, Yoon will indeed be on the Salty Suite tonight with his tag and YP shirt on. His match against Roustane “Kage the Warrior” Benzeguir will run at 10pm PDT.
Correction July 17, 2pm CT: This article now correctly identifies Salty Suite and VGBootCamp as the source of the potential brand banning.
