Sexual assault scandal hits 'Overwatch' League team before season starts

UPDATE: Nov. 8, 2017, 11:31 a.m. EST Bateman responded to the allegations made against him on Tuesday night.

Before Overwatch League's first season has even had a chance to begin, one team has already fired one of its owner's associated staff members over allegations that he sexually assaulted a Twitch streamer.

NRG Esports, parent organization of the San Francisco Shock, fired team manager Maxwell Bateman after he was accused of sexual assault by Twitch streamer Krystlin, team owner Andy Miller announced via Twitter today.

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Miller is the CEO and founder of esports team organization NRG Esports, which is the parent organization of the San Francisco Overwatch team. According to his tweet, NRG has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to sexual assault.

Krystlin publicly accused Bateman of assaulting her Sunday, recounting the event in detail on TwitLonger. She said she had a couple of drinks with him and was feeling unusually sick, and then went to Bateman's home with him so she could get her keys to go home.

Next thing I remember is falling asleep on Max's couch and woke up because I was coughing up saliva/blood. I went into his room to lay down. He was in there playing games on his computer and left to go clean up the couch. After he was finished he came back into the room and played games for a couple more hours. At this point I was in and out of consciousness. I remember Max laying next to me but didn't think anything of it because we've shared a bed in the past and nothing's happened.That's when he sexually assaulted me. In my mind I knew what was happening wasn't right but I couldn't move. I was frozen. After I woke up I got my keys from his car and he dropped me off at home. A few days after I started remembering more of what happened I confronted him through text-messages and told him what happened the other night wasn't okay- that we were friends and nothing more. He even admits what he did wasn't right and that I never gave him permission to do this in any way.

Krystlin also posted screenshots of text conversations with Bateman, who wrote, "Yes I realize what I did was wrong," in a text during a conversation about the assault.

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Bateman later texted Krystlin with the message: "A detective called me asking for a statement and I wanted to explain my full story to you see if we can solve it between us."

In her TwitLonger, Krystlin wrote that she filed a police report after the assault, but that when called to give a statement, Bateman was a no-show. She then referenced the text where Bateman asked to solve the situation between the two of them.

Krystlin said she was told there wasn't enough evidence or proof for the police to move forward.

According to Break the Game, Krystlin filed the report to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department on Oct. 6, in which she said she never gave him consent.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately respond to our request for confirmation that the report was filed and that there was not enough evidence to move forward with an investigation.

Bateman tweeted a response to Krystlin's accusations late Tuesday night, saying he has "consulted with an attorney regarding these false allegations," and "will be taking this through the correct legal process and not the public domain."

Bateman also said that he did meet with the detective to give his testimony and showed the detective his phone.

UPDATE: Nov. 7, 2017, 9:04 p.m. EST We updated the story to clarify the role of Bateman as a manager under NRG Esports, not, specifically, the San Francisco Shock.