A scandal broke out at the Caggtus: During an award ceremony on stage, CS2 pro Maurizio Weber slapped his opponent Fabian Salomon. This now has drastic consequences.
A hint of the 2022 Oscars lingered over the Caggtus – but not in a positive sense. The event was much more reminiscent of Will Smith’s viral slap in the face. The main actor at the trade fair in Leipzig was Counter-Strike 2 player Maurizio ‘MAUschine’ Weber. He took second place with his team. Fabian Salomon alias ‘Spidergum’ from Team Legendenlobby was the winner, but the one who suffered. But what happened?
The trigger for the escalation was probably not the defeat in the final, but an action by Salomon during the final. The 24-year-old is said to have shouted “Papi Chulo” (“Papi Chulo”) from ‘MAUschine’ through the hall. Weber obviously didn’t like that at all. He later said in a livestream: “It’s a shame, they took it down. If I had seen that earlier, I would have punched him.”
There was still a violent reaction: Weber slapped Salomon during the award ceremony and was expelled from the stage by the presenter shortly afterwards. ‘Spidergum’ was not seriously injured.
League management and Twitch send signals
The action now has clear consequences for ‘MAUschine’. The league management reacted the same evening and banned Weber for ten years. The incident was also reported to the Esports Integrity Commission. A post on X reads: “In case it wasn’t clear: We think violence is pretty shitty, and it has no place in our league.” Twitch also responded and banned him.
Caggtus also made a statement. When asked by Mein-MMO, the organizer explained: “We take the incident very seriously and are currently carefully considering possible legal action against the aggressor in order to respond appropriately. The person was removed from the stage immediately after the incident.” For “procedural reasons”, the company does not wish to comment further for the time being. However, they emphasized “that we strictly reject any form of violence – whether physical or in the form of verbal provocation.”
