Pokemon coach fired after sexual harassment claim

The coach of the recent Pokemon Unite world champion team, BLVKHVND, was fired after a sexual harassment investigation concluded.

Competitive Pokemon Unite team BLVKHVND (pronounced “Black Hand”) announced that they were parting ways with team coach Mike “Excellund” Lund Andersen after an investigation concluded for a sexual harassment claim.

BLVKHVND made the announcement via Twitter, stating that “A sexual harassment incident has been brought to BLVKHVNDs’ attention. After an investigation, both the player group and the organisation have made the decision to immediately end any association with ‘Excellund’.”

Continuing on, the team asks that people “please respect the privacy of those involved in the matter going forward,” likely to stem the flow of questions their fans have. Details are sparse about the incident, with no further details being provided by the team or any of the players.

Effective immediately, BLVKHVND has parted ways with Mike 'Excellund' Lund Andersen from our Pokémon Unite roster. pic.twitter.com/oeZgoIXrhg

— BLVKHVND 🌜☠️🌛 / UNITE WORLD CHAMPIONS (@BLVKHVND) August 25, 2022

Pokemon Unite is a 5v5 “MOBA”, or Multiplayer Online Battle Arena. In Unite, players assume the role of a single Pokemon from a heavy roster of nearly 40 different Pokemon, each with a unique playstyle. Teams will then co-ordinate to knock out opponents, score goals, and claim territories to rack up the highest score. It’s like a more attack-heavy version of football, except with Pokemon.

BLVKHVND exploded on the scene as the first competitive Pokemon Unite team to claim the World Champion title. The tournament for Pokemon Unite took place at the yearly Pokemon World Championship, which was held in London this year, and BLVKHVND swept the competition, going completely undefeated to win the trophy.

In other Nintendo news, a stunning new report reveals that workers at Nintendo of America, primarily testers, faced years of abuse. This follows a different report revealing that Nintendo of America was hit with a second workplace complaint. The two complaints were spaced only six months apart. Finally, a modder discovered a secret in a 28-year-old game, revealing hidden game development features in a Super Nintendo game.

Pokemon Unite is free to play on the Nintendo Switch, but is also available on mobile devices as well.

Written by Junior Miyai on behalf of GLHF.