Overwatch pro FR3E sentenced to jail for sexual harassment of a minor

Overwatch pro Tae-in ‘FR3E’ Yoon has been sentenced to one year in jail for sexual harassment of a minor, according to South Korean news.

FR3E had recently played with the Korean Contenders team OZ Gaming, finishing fourth in the first season of 2020, and had been competing as far back as APEX season 4 in 2017.

Yonhap News reported that Judge Lee Jeong-min sentenced Yoon to a year in jail and ordered him to complete a 40-hour sexual violence treatment program after sexually harassing a minor.

The site claims that Yoon was charged last year after he forcibly harassed the victim by touching part of their body.

Yoon’s lawyer claimed that while he told the victim he not partake in “skinship,” when he saw the victim falling asleep with their arm out, it led to “crime of love.”

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A “skinship” is a term used in Korea. Wiktionary defines it as “bonding through physical contact.”

Furthermore, the court didn’t accept an argument that the age difference between FR3E and the victim wasn’t great enough to warrant a punishment for offenses against minors.

The judge explained that because FR3E harassed the sleeping victim and inflicted a degree of “secondary damage,” the year sentence was more than warranted.

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For his part, Yoon apologized to the victim and their parents for what had happened and accepted the punishment the judge handed to him.

Yoon is hardly the first Overwatch or esport pro to be in trouble with sexual allegations. Notably, 2020 was filled with multiple allegations against Super Smash Bros pros.

On the Overwatch front, the 2019-2020 season also saw the Boston Uprising released off-tank Walid ‘Mouffin’ Bassal after he was accused of sexual misconduct by members of the Overwatch community.