This Sunday, August 11, ESPN2 was set to rebroadcastt the Apex Legends Invitational Tournament that took place at X Games Minneapolis on August 2 and 3. Now though, that isn’t going to happen.
An email was sent out to ABC affiliates announcing the decision to remove the tournament from the set TV air time. The decision was made out of respect for the victims of the two recent horrific shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.
ESPN and ABC has made the decision not to air the TV broadcast of the XGames Apex Legends EXP Invitational that was scheduled for this weekend, in response to the recent mass shootings, according to an ABC Affiliate TV station source pic.twitter.com/6BMwdbk93t
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) August 8, 2019
Many online have expressed anger at the removal of the event because they feel that it only supports false claims made by US politicians that link video games to the violent shootings across America.
In a press conference following the two most recent shootings, President Donald Trump condemned violent video games, attempting to link them to the cause of Dayton and El Paso.
“We must stop the glorification of violence in our society — this includes the gruesome and grizzly video games that are now commonplace. It is too easy today for troubled youth to surround themselves with a culture that celebrates violence.”
Of course, any one with logic can see the gaps in the theories that attempt to link violence to video games. Of course, the easiest link to make is that if video games were the cause of mass shootings, why then would America be the one country with mass shootings while every other country in the world with video games doesn’t suffer from the same issue that rests on America’s shoulders.
Video games have been scapegoated for years now when it comes to politicians attempting to link violence in video games to violence in real life, but now it seems the rhetoric coming from many politicians is adversely affecting the video game industry.
ESPN2 will still host the airing of the Apex Legends tournament, but it will air at a later date. You’ll be able to watch the event on one of three times:
- Sunday, October 6 – 5PM EST
- Tuesday, October 15 – 11PM EST
- Sunday, October 27 – 4AM EST