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By Steven Asarch
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UPDATE: Washington D.C. Overwatch League management has released a statement.
We have an official process for making any offers to be part of our team as a player, coach, or in other capacity, which ultimately requires sign-off from the board. As such, while our GM has been speaking with many potential candidates for our team staff and roster, we did not make any official offers that were rescinded. We understand and respect the serious responsibility that comes with impacting people's careers. Our staff is fully aware of our process and our organization's values and have assured us that the situation has been mischaracterized.
YouTuber Michael "myKL" Padilla is claiming that the general manager of the newly-registered Washington D.C. Overwatch League team has been promising jobs to players that never materialized. Kate Mitchell, who started the position in early September, was picked up after working as the GM for the successful Contenders team Last Night's Leftovers.
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"(Mitchell) has been making a bunch of empty promises to players, possible staff members, coaches and has even gone so far as to offer signed Overwatch League employees jobs at Washington D.C.," myKL said in the video. He claims that Mitchell tried to sign "Harsha" Bandi, who announced on Monday that he would be leaving the San Francisco Shock to be pursuing coaching opportunities for season two elsewhere.
MyKL claims that after Harsha left his position, Mitchell retracted the offer. "This leaves Harsha looking for a team in the Overwatch League, Academy, any place that will take him. This was his livelihood, now it's pretty much gone," myKL said.
Last Night's Leftovers was the first Contenders team to make it out of the OWL open bracket and into the playoffs."When (Mitchell) joined D.C. she made the players a bunch of promises," myKL said. "She was telling them that they would be 100 percent on the Overwatch League team and if they weren't they would then be on the Academy team for D.C.." Decod and nExx, former LNL players, are still currently in the tryouts phase for D.C. and have been defending Mitchell on Twitter.
A Discord screenshot from Mitchell says that the owners of the D.C. team changed the budget "significantly." There's no proof that this screenshot is legitimate, but the internet seems to be running with it.
Mitchell has actively been fighting against these claims, releasing her own statement on Twitter.
When Overwatch commentator MonteCristo asked her which one of myKL's points were under dispute, she wrote that she's "confident no wrongdoing occured."
MyKL stands by his claims, saying he's not trying to ruin Mitchell's career but believes that she is in the wrong.
This whole debacle is just unnecessary Overwatch League drama. Fans of Blizzard's esport have nothing to watch during the offseason so they are even hungrier for content and juicy gossip. Mitchell may have offered deals to players, but nothing was set in stone and things change.
Leaks out of Twitter users like Slasher have become the norm and many online just accept their claims as fact. Leaks happen all the time in a league of this size, but sometimes you have to think for yourself.
The Overwatch League D.C. team, Mitchell, myKL, Harsha and members of Last Night's Leftovers did not respond to Newsweek by publication time.
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