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POKÉMON Unite world champion team, BLVKHVND, has announced that it is parting ways with its coach, Mike ‘Excellund’ Lund Anderson, following allegations of sexual assault.
‘Excellund’ coached the team BLVKHVND (pronounced Black Hand) to win the trophy and $100,000 (£85k) at the Pokémon World Championships held last week in London.
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BLVKHVND became the first team to win the Pokémon Unite World Championship title, as it was the first time the game was held at the event.
Both Pokémon Unite and Pokémon Go were introduced to the tournament this year.
It also featured Pokken, Pokémon mainline series competitive play, and the Trading Card game.
The Japanese team beat out Renaissance, a team from Singapore, in a close finals match.
This resulted in BLVKHVND’s undefeated victory at the competition.
However, a Twitter post made last night (August 25) from the team’s official account, announced ‘Excellund’s departure from the team.
The post reads: “Effective immediately, BLVKHVND has parted ways with Mike ‘Excellund’ Lund Anderson from our Pokémon Unite roster.
“A sexual harrassment incident has been brought to BLVKHVND’s attention.
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“After an investigation both the player group and the organisation have made the decision to immediately end any association with Excellund.
“We ask that you please respect the privacy of those involved in the matter going forward.”
One of the members of BLVKHVND Kyriaos tweeted out a victim impact statement which gave the victims side of the story.
She and several witnesses claim that during the World Championships ‘Excellund’ forced himself on her while she was passed out drunk.
Witnesses attested to her saying several times that she did not want a sexual encounter with ‘Excellund’, and that she got out of their Uber to vomit from alcohol consumption.
In a now deleted tweet ‘Excellund’ also posted his side of the story where he claims despite her insistence that she did not desire a sexual encounter, she initiated it.
He claims to have misread the situation.
The 23-year-old former coach has returned to social media and removed “coach for BLVKHVND” from his bio.
He has also removed the banner from his page which carried the BLVKHVND slogan.
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
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