Swiss esports event canceled after 3 squads pull out over host team founder’s anti-abortion comment

GENEVA — An event billed as Switzerland’s biggest esports competition has been canceled after the host team’s founder posted an anti-abortion comment on social media, triggering outrage that led three rival squads to pull out.

The “Take the Throne” event, involving a video game that features cars that score goals with a ball like in soccer, was to take place Nov. 23 at the Batiment des Forces Motrices venue in downtown Geneva.

The uproar erupted after BDS team founder Patrice Bailo de Spoelberch — the initials of his surname form the team’s name — posted on social media Wednesday that “A woman who dares to use abortion should lose the right to ever have children.”

The post has since been taken down from his feed on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, but several critics of the comment relayed a screenshot of it.

The next day, three rival teams among the eight invited to participate — Gentle Mates, Karmine Corp. and Team Vitality — issued a joint statement saying they were pulling out.

They condemned the “disrespectful and controversial” comment and said they “can in no way accept associating our clubs and our values with such speech.”

BDS posted a message the same day, saying “the statements made by our founder are his own and do not reflect the vision and values of our players, employees, partners, fans or staff members.”

The team said it was “compelled” to cancel the event and that “internal measures will be taken promptly.”

Bailo de Spoelberch, on his account, posted an apology on Thursday, calling his initial statement “extremely clumsy” and saying it “does not reflect my true thoughts.”

“Every woman must have control over her body and is free to terminate a pregnancy,” he wrote. “Again, sorry to all the women and people I offended.”

A promotional website for the competition remained active Monday despite the cancellation. It said the “Rocket League” game, involving cars in a virtual arena, had “captivated millions of players worldwide” since it was created in 2015.

In a testament of the growing popularity of esports, the International Olympic Committee has taken steps toward adding the first Olympic Esports Games to its events in a bid to attract and retain young audiences.