Former Overwatch League MVP and current Valorant pro Jay “Sinatraa” Won was suspended from his team Sentinels today after being accused of sexual assault by a former girlfriend. In a Google Doc posted late last night to Twitter, Cleo Hernandez detailed emotional and sexual abuse allegations, including instances of coerced sex.
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In a nine page document, Hernandez wrote that, during their 9-month relationship, Won would guilt her into having sex and would continue to pursue sex even after she’d say no. “I’d try and say no again and he’d just push himself on me anyways,” she wrote. The document contains screenshots of text messages that Hernandez writes are indicative of Won’s abusive behavior, including a conversation in which Won accuses her of cheating on him after using an app to check her location. The document also contains an audio file, which Hernandez writes is a conversation between her and Won in which he continues to have sex with her after she audibly says no multiple times.
As a member of the San Francisco Shock, Won won two championships and claimed an MVP title. In 2020, he left Overwatch to pursue a career in Riot’s then new cooperative shooter Valorant.
In statements released on Twitter, both Sentinels and Valorant Esports wrote that they were aware of the accusations and would be investigating. “While the investigation is pending, [Won] is suspended from the team,” wrote Sentinels in a tweet. He has been similarly prohibited from playing in any forthcoming Valorant matches. “Per our existing competitive rules and investigative process, a decision has been made to suspend Won throughout the investigation and therefore he will not be able to compete this weekend,” wrote the North American Valorant Champions Tour in a tweet.
Kotaku reached out to Won, Sentinels, and Hernandez, but did not receive replies in time for publication.
Update, 3/10/21, 9:45pm—The Overwatch League announced that it will refund an Overwatch skin referencing Won, writing, “We take any allegations of this nature seriously and unequivocally support victims of abuse.”
Update, 3/11/21, 8am—Won released a statement on Twitter last night, writing, “It is clear from Cleo’s recent post that she recalls our relationship differently than I do. What we do agree on is that it was unhealthy for the both of us. I apologize to Cleo and regret how things ended, but I never assaulted her in any way. I am fully cooperating with the investigations and providing the full audio and video clips Cleo referenced in her post.”
