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YouPorn's eSports Team Barred From Wearing Uniform at Street Fighter Event

Well, of course Capcom doesn't want to be associated with Team YP.

Street Fighter IV player Valentin "YP_Valmaster" Petit will compete with some of the best players in the world at the Capcom Cup event in San Francisco this weekend, but he won't be able to represent his team like the rest of them

That's because Petit is part of Team YP, the eSports team belonging to the porn streaming site YouPorn.

YouPorn announced the formation of an eSports team that will compete in multiple games last year. It sounded like a silly stunt at first, but here we are. Petit, who's ranked as one of the top 20 players in the world, qualified and was invited to a prestigious competitive fighting game event, but Capcom is asking him not to fly his team colors. Specifically, it asked him not to wear his team shirt:

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Image: Team YP.

Note that the shirt is not pornographic in the least. It's not like genitalia isn't part of the team logo. The team name doesn't even have the word "porn" in it. It's simply Team YP, which YouPorn has made an effort to separate from "its core business," as it calls it.

As VP of Operations at Team YP Brad Burns told Motherboard, Capcom simply wouldn't allow any kind of Team YP branding at its event, be it team jerseys, logos, or player tags, in order to protect the Street Fighter and Capcom Pro Tour brand.

The Capcom Cup code of conduct forbids teams and players from swearing, cheating, and other shenanigans you'd expect, but it also forbids "any other type of conduct deemed inappropriate at Capcom's sole discretion." Apparently, that means Team YP as well.

"Of course we were disappointed that Capcom took this stance," VP of Operations at Team YP Brad Burns said in a statement. "Our players have attended many tournaments in the past and this is the first time we've been told we can't participate. It's unfortunate."

"I am proud to wear the Team YP jersey and I want to represent them at tournaments," Petit said.

YouPorn said that in an effort to address the eSports Industry about Team YP, it released this new, "censored" team shirt design:

Image: Team YP.

"Once it became clear that we'd run into problems if he showed up wearing our standard jersey, we hopped to and had this special one drawn up in hopes of avoiding any unnecessary complications and more importantly, to be in compliance with tournament regulations," Burns told Motherboard.

Obviously, YouPorn knows that its team is going to cause controversy at any eSports event it attends, as these events are watched and attended by many minors. It knows this kind of thing is going to happen (that new shirt design appeared awfully fast), and it's trying to have a sense of humor about it.

"For our next move we're thinking of telling everyone that YP stands for Yummy Pepperoni and branding everything with a pizza theme," Burns said.