I was hesitant to write about this topic here, but since it seems to be popping up all the time anyway and interestingly also not censored away, and I guess since this is also everything-goes General and not the gameplay forum or such, I wanted to convey my view of the whole game tournament event incident to provide some balance to the political crusade, because unless we generally uphold principles, it’s just gonna add more fear to the system and will not heal what ails humankind.
To start with, I have many reasons for critique regarding Blizzard, and their profit-driven pandering to China is obvious, too, not the least due to their own communications showing that. While this sheds light on the truth of the situation, it is also not at all something new or tied to China.
So, while I could call Blizzard appalling for various reasons, it is not despicable to pursue a standard policy that is also often applied in other areas like all kinds of internet forums and such: “No talking politics or religion”. It was an e-sports event and the person who got banned participated, agreeing to the rules, then deliberately violated them, because the madness that has gripped the world is a corruption in the form of egoes seeking purpose, and it would have had too little crusaderish drama potential to just refuse to participate because he doesn’t agree with the rules.
To reiterate: The guy utilized the publicity gained from participating in an event whose rules he doesn’t agree with in order to snub the host and bring a highly divisive and heated political topic into an entertainment event that no one forced him to participate in. It is business, and as a player aiming for prize money, he himself is pursuing an aim connected to self-promotion. So he didn’t actually commit a sacrifice there because he got massive publicity now by hooking into a ‘support tribe’, by picking a side.
And picking a side is unenlightened in a complex sociopolitical situation like this, especially if you consider that while the Hong Kong protests have legit concerns as a basis, the whole movement has also been co-opted by the usual US regime-change machinery, and because many people’s aim is actually to have purpose and power, you still see riots going on, despite or specifically because victories have been achieved, demands met. (And since we are not living in China here, you have free access to all the good investigative journalism that can enlighten you about that.)
Now, some say Blizzard are hypocrites because they themselves don’t shy away from making certain political statements, but those are carefully chosen own policy, and naturally in pursuit of business interests. But it is different than just allowing anyone to state any political view with association to Blizzard.
In the many cases where I could scold Blizzard, in this one I have to break a lance for them. The issue is being overinflated for the reasons I mentioned.
Some say Blizzard could have been more moderate in their punishment, but the guy knew very well what he was doing, so I see no reason for leniency. This was not a mishap.
His rights to freedom of speech were not violated because Blizzard didn’t sue him. He WAS able to voice his political opinion and Blizzard merely took measures within THEIR right as organisers of the event. He violated the rules, so he got disqualified. Again, you do not have the right to act like a jerk wherever you want. Freedom of speech does not give you immunity from reactions to that speech. You gotta take responsibility for your decisions, and that is a big problem with a lot of social upheaval these days.
Some say Blizzard could have just disclaimered the whole event like “Things expressed by participants do not reflect Blizzard’s views”, but this would have been unsuitable for that kind of event. That is more fitting for journalistic, documentary and such formats. It was entertainment, and in entertainment the concern here is not about protecting yourself legally, but about not pissing off the audience.
In closing, I want to apologize in case I contributed to bringing politics into a game forum. As I said in the beginning, I only decided to do it now since the discussion seems to permeate at least this section anyway. And I wanted to provide some balance to all the agitation, because I guess what puts people off the most is all the aggression that comes with such matters.
And if someone like me who is highly critical of Blizzard can view things from their perspective, maybe it can inspire others, too. Because we can only bring peace into the world if it rests at our own core first. When we got sufficiently tired of all the pointless war.
If you agree with that message, give this a like. Because support for agitated agendae is plenty and willing, and restoring balance and healing the world can only work through support, too.
So dumpster fire burns even more 
percent accuracy.