Former FIFA Pro's Fans Hack Twitter to Protest Bans

So, I don’t typically write about eSports in any extensive capacity, and I sure as heck don’t typically write about sports games – and my presence in sports-based esports is functionally nonexistent. But I’m going to dip my toes into these dark waters because something kind of funny happened and I want to highlight it. Welcome to the journalistic process.

Anyway. Not too long ago, a popular(?) FIFA pro player, Kurt “Kurt0411" Fenech, got a lifetime ban from playing at official events due to “abusive, harassing, and vulgar” behavior. Knowing nothing about this guy, I already agree with EA’s decision, because I dislike it on principle when jerks get famous for being jerks. Lookin’ at you, Dr. Disrespect.

To the surprise of no one, neither he nor his fanbase is taking it well. The usual whining and complaining would be one thing, but what really makes this noteworthy is that his fans escalated to actually hacking several EA employee’s private twitter accounts and posting a hilariously bad mockup of an apology and a recant.

EA SPORTS FIFA 20 Global Series

EA STATEMENT

Hi all, Kurt0411 has been unbanned. After looking further into it, the FIFA team has decided that Kurt did not deserve a permanent ban for the actions that he did. Any suspension/ban on Kurt0411 has been lifted. We apologize to Kurt, and we will work hard to not make the same mistake again.

Of course, he’s not unbanned: you can’t hack someone’s private account, post that, and expect anything really to come to it. But still, the effort itself is noteworthy. I’m more than a little curious what the thinking was there.

Granted, it’s not as if Kurt and his fans don’t have reasons to be mad at FIFA and EA, what with all the loot boxes and terrible micro transactions that plague the series. But this doesn’t seem like a productive way to fight back against it.