U.S. Army and Astro latest sponsors to disappear from CDL website

Clarification: We reached out to both Astro Gaming and the U.S. Army for official comment on the situation, we will update this story as soon as we hear back. Neither organization has officially dropped its CDL sponsorship.

Original article:

The U.S. Army and Astro Gaming disappeared from Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty League wesbite on Friday, amid the controversy caused by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing's (DFEH) gender discrimination lawsuit against the company. The U.S. Army signed a multi-year deal with CDL in mid-2020, while Astro was one of the initial brand sponsors for the league back in January of 2020.

Neither organization has released a statement regarding the harassment allegations against CDL or confirming they have removed their sponsorships, but the logos of both companies have been removed from the website. T-Mobile also quietly removed its sponsorship logo from the Call of Duty League website earlier this month, leaving now only ZENNI Gaming, SCUF, Game Fuel, and USAA insurance listed heading into the Call of Duty Champs event.

On the Overwatch League side, T-Mobile also pulled its logo alongside State Farm, Kellog's, and IBM. The Overwatch League currently only has Xfinity, Coca-Cola, and Teamspeak still listed on their website, though Coca-Cola paused all of their sponsorships for last week's matches and told Washington Post in a statement that they are "reevaluating" that partnership with OWL going forward.

Activsion Blizzard has also seen the departure of numerous staff this week in relation to the lawsuit. Several lead developers including the director of Diablo 4 were reportedly fired this week over their connection to the ongoing legal situation. J. Allen Brack, former CEO of Blizzard, also was forced out earlier this month for his role in protecting and maintaining a sexist work environment at Blizzard.

Click here to read a full timeline of the fallout from the DFEH lawsuit against Activision Blizzard.

This article is being updated as we receive more information.