Getting fired is never fun, but it’s even worse when you find out via Tweet. Sang-min “Myunb0ng” Seo, support player for New York’s Overwatch League team, found out he wasn’t going to be playing in this or any other week’s games when his organization bid farewell to him in a tweet. Roster changes in the OWL are usually announced via tweet, so this wasn’t out of the ordinary. Problem is, it seems like no one told Seo of his release beforehand. He responded to the farewell tweet with question marks, seemingly confused.
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He also quote-tweeted the announcement with another question mark, seemingly confirming the idea that he hadn’t known this was coming.
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This particular revelation inspires a big ol’ “oof” because a couple of hours before tweeting about Seo’s release, the New York Excelsior tweeted a welcome for its newest support player, Soon-jae “Ansoonjae” Jae. So, ostensibly, Seo saw the announcement and was in the process of welcoming a support line comrade, unaware that said comrade would be taking his place. Damn.
New York Excelsior apologized on Wednesday for the situation. “Today, we posted an announcement thanking Myunb0ng for his time with us, however we failed to properly communicate with the team before this announcement was made,” the team wrote on Twitter. “We take full responsibility and there are no excuses. To Myunb0ng, we are deeply sorry for our miscommunication and putting you through this situation.”
Fans responded to Seo’s tweets with shock, hoping that this was not how a player truly found out about his release. But even if it were, Seo wouldn’t be in poor company. There are numerous stories in meat sports where players find out about being dropped or traded via tweet and a host of other unsavory ways. Still kinda stings, though.