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ABC, ESPN will not air Apex Legends EXP Invitational due to recent mass shootings

An additional recap has been reportedly pushed off of ESPN2 as well.

Preston Byers

Published: Aug 8, 2019 05:54 pm

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ABC says it will not air the television broadcast of the Apex Legends EXP Invitational on Aug. 11 “out of respect for the victims and all those impacted by the recent shootings,” according to Rod “Slasher” Breslau.

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ABC sent an email to an affiliate television station on Aug. 6, which said an episode of E:60 will air in the time slot that originally belonged to the EXP Invitational.

ESPN and ABC has made the decision not to air the TV broadcast of the XGames Apex Legends EXP Invitational that was scheduled for this weekend, in response to the recent mass shootings, according to an ABC Affiliate TV station source pic.twitter.com/6BMwdbk93t
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) August 8, 2019

The decision comes days after President Donald Trump blamed “gruesome and grisly video games” for the shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio that took the lives of 31 people. Other Republican politicians also pointed to video games as the reason of violence, despite no actual evidence existing that shooting crimes are tied to video games.

In addition to the EXP Invitational’s Aug. 11 airing being pulled, Slasher said a recap that was set to air on ESPN2 on Aug. 10 is not on the programming schedule anymore either.

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Author

Preston Byers

Dot Esports associate editor. Co-host of the Ego Chall Podcast. Since discovering esports through the 2013 Call of Duty Championship, Preston has pursued a career in esports and gaming. He graduated from Youngstown State University with a bachelor's degree in journalism in 2021.