The Shady Side Of XQC

Félix "xQc" Lengyel is a French Canadian Twitch streamer and professional Overwatch player. Lengyel first began competitive Overwatch in 2016 at the DatZit Gaming eSports organization and was later picked up by Denial eSports that same year.

From there, Lengyel's career would continue to be marked by frequent change.

In 2017, he became an Overwatch player for Dallas Fuel and would remain on the team until 2018. After a brief break from competitive play, Lengyel joined the Contenders Trials NA team GOATS. In 2019, Lengyel shortly became a substitute member of the Los Angeles Gladiators, competing in the Overwatch Contenders before he was taken off the team. He also competed in the Overwatch World Cup multiple years in a row. 

Aside from competitive Overwatch, xQc boasts millions of followers on Twitch. But along with his success has come a fair amount of controversy and a handful of suspensions. Here is the shady side of xQc.

While in the heat of a competitive Overwatch match in 2017, Lengyel's team found themselves down a player after he was suddenly kicked out of the game. Kotaku reported that, following the pro player's removal from the match, Lengyel received an email from Overwatch developer Blizzard stating his suspension would last 72 hours and was a result of "misuse of the reporting system." Apparently Lengyel was a little too happy to report others who may not have been doing anything wrong.

While Blizzard's punishment was deemed somewhat controversial at the time, Lengyel ultimately apologized for his actions in a tweet, writing, "If you watch my stream, you know that I am very competitive and always strive to win games. I'm learning to understand that not every player in ranked has the same goals as me and I can't get carried away by those players."

After allegedly throwing matches in Overwatch's Competitive Play mode, Lengyel received a letter from Blizzard stating that he was suspended for seven days. In an apology video, Lengyel confirmed that he did throw games in ranked matches adding the punishment was "super deserved" and nothing would "excuse his behavior." 

"After long days and being strained from ranked and from the pressure, I tend to just let go. And that's not good," Lengyel said in his apology. "I should have just turned off the computer and did something else." Lengyel also noted that he didn't expect everyone to accept his apology and expected followers and support because of his actions. However, he expressed hope he'd be able to move forward from the controversy, saying, "I'll play the game properly...make content, videos, stream, hopefully, play on stage, and redeem myself."

Only a week into the 2018 Overwatch League season, Lengyel was dealt a swift suspension by the Overwatch League following homophobic remarks Lengyel directed at an openly gay player on an opposing team. While these remarks resulted in a temporary suspension from the league, Lengyel was also handed a fine of $2,000. Additionally, the Dallas Fuel also suspended him for the remainder of Stage 1 competitions, further adding to the punishment. 

In a tweet from the Dallas Fuel following the incident, the team stated that further resources would be given to coaching and training Lengyel to "help him improve as a professional player who is reflective of the principles of the Dallas Fuel organization, his teammates, and of the Overwatch League." However, specifics about the coaching and resources Lengyel ultimately got were not presented.

Following a suspension due to alleged homophobic remarks he made, Lengyel returned for Stage 2 Overwatch League Competitions. While the hope was that Lengyel would manage to stay out of trouble this time around, his return would be short-lived. According to ESPN, The Overwatch League fined Lengyel $4,000 and handed him a four-game suspension for social media violations and "disparaging language." Lengyel had reportedly used the "Trihard" emoticon in a way that was considered racially disparaging, ultimately resulting in his second suspension from the league. 

The Dallas Fuel shortly parted ways with Lengyel following the incident. In a statement published by ESPN, the organization's owner Mike Rufail expressed that, "Ultimately, it was in the best interest of our organization and Félix to part ways before the expiration of his contract. No one wants to see Félix succeed more than we do, and we believe he has a bright future ahead of him."

On Aug. 11, 2018, Lengyel was streaming Overwatch as usual when he was suddenly booted out of a match. After a bit of investigating, he quickly discovered that his Overwatch account had been suspended yet again. Lengyel confirmed the suspension with Blizzard customer support, learning that he had been reported by multiple other players for abusive language he had used in the in-game chat.

After receiving his suspension, Lengyel took to Twitter with an apology, saying, "It is never my intention to harass or use the in-game chat in an abusive manner. If I ever typed something and you we're genuinely hurt, I am sorry. I will be better." 

While some fans readily accepted Lengyel's apology, others responded negatively. In response to this backlash, the Overwatch player tweeted, "People tend to celebrate when others fail to reach their goals exclusively because they cannot achieve their own."

When it comes to nudity or explicit content, Twitch's Terms of Service are slightly ambiguous. However, Twitch's stance on nudity and sexually explicit material is fully covered in the platform's community guidelines. The rules state that "in embedded media, such as videos and images, nudity and pornography are prohibited." Any exceptions to this rule are selectively pre-screened by Twitch. 

While streaming the title Strip 4: Classmate Study, Lengyel had the option to remove a character's bra. After selecting "yes" to the in-game prompt, the streamer was handed a three-day suspension for broadcasting "Sexually Explicit, Adults-Only, or Other Prohibited Games."

Those siding with Lengyel argued that Twitch's guidelines are unclear, noting that other games featuring nudity or sexual content are often shown on the platform without issue. Lengyel's short ban resulted in the hashtag "#unbanxQc" but to no avail. In the end, Lengyel took responsibility for showing the controversial content in a tweet and simply waited for the three-day ban to lift.

In one of his steams, Lengyel decided to drop a hot take about charities that ruffled some feathers. Lengyel confidently declared that streamers are paid in exchange for fundraisers. To back up his assertion, he claimed that he had been offered sponsorships by nonprofit organizations to host charity streams. 

In a Twitter exchange documented by Dexerto, Jessica Blevins criticized Lengyel's assertion expressing, "This guy always has some trash to say." The two became tangled in a heated Twitter beef after Lengyel accused her of "virtue-signaling." Ninja, Jessica's husband, then jumped into the fray defending his wife. The situation escalated after Jessica told Lengyel, "It's very clear that you don't respect women or really anyone with the trash I've heard you spew." Things only got worse after streamer Alinity tweeted that "Team Ninja would lose" in a charity stream competition against Lengyel. In response, Ninja made a jab at Alinity's animal abuse scandal, remarking, "Don't you have another cat to abuse?"

Later, Lengyel would admit that the entire situation had spiraled out of control. He also suggested that his initial statements about charities were taken "out of context."

Aside from his Twitch fiascos and Overwatch League controversies, Lengyel has had some trouble on YouTube as well. Lengyel even claimed once that YouTube sent him a letter explicitly asking him not to stream on the platform. Whether or not there is any truth behind this claim, Lengyel has been reprimanded by YouTube more than once.

In 2019, Lengyel reacted to a video compilation highlighting "the best fails of all time." YouTube — due to an apparent copyright strike — removed his upload and suspended his channel, and he received a warning from the company. Later in February 2020, Lengyel was surprised to discover yet another strike against his YouTube account for breaking the platform's Terms of Service. The strike prohibited Lengyel from uploading new content to his channel. 

After tweeting at YouTube regarding his confusion about the suspension, the company replied that it would look into the situation.