Jayne says Fusion “spat in pros’ faces” by signing Overwatch streamer
Twitter/AskJayneFormer Dallas Fuel assistant coach and Overwatch streamer Justin ‘Jayne’ Conroy criticized the Philadelphia Fusion’s signing of Philip ‘ChipSa’ Graham in a massive Twitter rant.
Conroy, who was best known for his educational coaching streams and helming the Fuel, suggested that ChipSa’s brother Christopher “ChrisTFer” Graham who coaches for the Fusion, had some say in the decision which left an “elephant in the room.”
Be mad at me all you want for addressing the elephant in the room, but if the above is NOT a joke then @Fusion needs to do their due diligence and explain how picking up @ChipSa_OW over more deserving individuals was not unfairly influenced by his brother @ChrisTFerOW. Done.
— Jayne (@AskJayne) November 26, 2019
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Houston Outlaws DPS Dante ‘Danteh’ Cruz responded to Jayne’s comments, asking the former assistant coach to explain his own roster decisions from his time with Dallas, suggesting Jayne’s moves also left out “more deserving individuals.”
In response, Jayne claimed that the Fuel and its Contenders roster of Envy, “don’t undermine the path to pro and spit in the face of individuals who actually grind for this opportunity.”
Our pickups don't undermine the path to pro and spit in the face of individuals who actually grind for this opportunity.
— Jayne (@AskJayne) November 26, 2019
He also told Outlaws GM Matt ‘Flame’ Rodriguez that, while it’s fine “to sign someone as a content creator or influencer,” ChipSa would be “functionally in that role (as a streamer) while masquerading as a professional,” for the Fusion.
Tons of legit reasons not to fill up your player slots. $$$
But let's say they want to sign someone as a content creator or influencer – that's fine, but if he's functionally in that role while masquerading as a professional then that's a problem.
— Jayne (@AskJayne) November 26, 2019
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Overwatch League analyst and former pro Jonathan‘ Reinforce’ Larsson said he didn’t understand the criticism and suggested Jayne should be happy if his opponents picked up “bad, undeserving players.”
To this, Jayne suggested that by signing ChipSa, the Fusion were hurting the legitimacy of the league itself.
What about the legitimacy of the league itself?
— Jayne (@AskJayne) November 26, 2019
Later, in a Twitter broadcast, the former coach doubled down on his rant.
“ChipSa is in no way going to be the best player Philadelphia Fusion could have picked up,” he said. “He’s a streamer. The last time he played professionally if you can even call it that, was in 2016. He’s been streaming ever since.”
He went on to claim while streaming on Twitter that the Fusion are “not the most well-respected organization on the inside of the league” and that they “play dirty.” However, he didn’t elaborate on this claim.
Talking Chipsa Signing https://t.co/1YpBxhh7pG
— Jayne (@AskJayne) November 26, 2019
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On November 15, Jayne announced he was leaving the Dallas Fuel in order to create content full time with Team Envy. Dexerto has reached out to Envy and Jayne for comment and will update the story if either respond.
ChipSa, meanwhile, took the high ground and simply tweeted “God I love drama.” It will be interesting to see how the streamer, mostly known for his Doomfist play, can perform in the Overwatch League in 2020.
With contributions from Dexerto writer Bill Cooney
