The 2018 Esports Awards came to a close tonight with a live awards ceremony in London, and while most of the night's proceedings could be seen from a mile away -- Cloud9 snagged Esports Organization of the Year, Ninja was voted Personality of the Year, and so on -- no one could have predicted that the organizers would blatantly confuse a nominee for his co-worker. 

But that is exactly what happened. When it came time to announce the finalists for Esports Broadcaster of the Year, the Esports Awards announced Mitch "Uber" Leslie as a contender -- while showing a clip of his colleague and fellow broadcaster, Brennon "Bren" Hook. The two work together on the Overwatch League, and while Uber was nominated, Bren was not.

See the error unfold for yourself: 

Uber was displeased with the oversight, to say the least. "Honestly I dont think I deserved to win the award tonight but I am very unhappy with how I was represented in the finalist rundown. However more than anything, I am relieved that I didn't pay for flights+accom to go to an event that was unable to tell me apart from a coworker," he wrote on Twitter.

He continued: "I would have been just as affronted (if not more) if this happened to a colleague of mine. All of us in esports broadcast work very hard and it is disheartening to see an oversight like this at an event designed to celebrate all of our hard work.

Fortunately it is not in my nature to put a whole lot of stock in things like this, but I worked my arse off this year along with the team to put on the best show that we could, and I cant help feeling like this is a bit of a snub. Oh well. On with the show." [sic]

Unfortunately, that was not the only snafu of the night. Earlier in the ceremony, Deji Olatunji, a prominent British YouTuber, presented the award for Esports Publisher of the Year, but instead of reading the victor's name out as planned, he chose to fake-out the audience.

Deji announced Epic Games as the winner, only recanting his words as an Epic Games representative made his way towards the stage. Then, he correctly deemed Blizzard Entertainment the winner, prompting a confused-looking Blizzard employee to take to the stage.

The move has drawn criticism and outrage from the esports community, with Kevin Hitt, the Editor in Chief of VP Esports, calling it "classless" and Deji "a clown." 

         

 

Header image via Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment.