After a Jewish-American professional video game player was banned from tournaments and group chat servers, allegedly due to his Zionist beliefs, a federal lawsuit was filed on his behalf to the New York Southern District Court last Monday by the National Jewish Advocacy Center.
Competitive Super Smash Brothers Ultimate player Felix “T Pot” Hasson was banned from three tournaments and two Discord servers dedicated to the popular Nintendo fighting game, after anti-Israel players were angered by a series of social media posts by Hasson in which he supported the IDF, Israel, and a response to the October 7 massacre.
The filing alleged that fellow Smash player Jonathan Mendez called on organizers for Luminosity Gaming’s Luminosity Makes Big Moves (LMBM) New York City tournament to ban Hasson.
“Why is this racist Zionist weasel allowed at your event?” Mendez reportedly queried last December under the X alias Antifa Caramel.
“How is any Palestinian supposed to feel safe at your major when people who relish in and cheer for the complete extermination of their friends and family are allowed in the same space?”
Call to action
NJAC said that Mendez shared three of Hasson’s posts with his call to action, most of which were made before October 7. One praised the IDF as “based” and another joked that it would be humorous if Smash players from terrorist-ruled Gaza played the game using characters that utilized bombs in their move sets. In response to the Hamas-led October 7 pogrom, Hasson said “Gaza got something big coming their way for sure.”
Player and event organizer Geoffrey “Aerodusk” Tirrell responded to the account the filing identified with Mendez, confirming last December 21 that Hasson had been banned from LMBM.
Four days after the LMNM ban, Hasson discovered that he had been banned from the internet Waypoint Cafe’s regular Smash tournaments. This was allegedly confirmed by competitive player and tournament organizer Fawn Chandler, who reportedly told Hasson that the decision was made unanimously by the organizers. The New York City gaming cafe said on December 29 that Hasson had been banned because he incited hate and violence.
“T Pot [Hasson] made tweets laughing at the deaths of civilians, and in recent weeks he was throwing up gang signs in our venue. These actions concerned multiple members of our community and our staff, resulting in his ban,” Waypoint said on X. “Our venue is not for anyone who makes it unsafe for others.”
Hasson’s father responded to Waypoint on social media, calling their accusation slander, and explained that “He laughed at the irony of someone celebrating the murder and rape of Jewish women and children and getting their karma due.”
Chandler also reportedly told Hasson that all of the tournament organizers in the tri-state area had decided to ban Hasson. The filing listed tri-state area tournament organizer House of 3000 and head administrator Jeffrey Franco as supposedly responsible for this multi-state ban.
Banned from tournament
Around December 26, 2023, Hasson was allegedly banned from the Discord server Smash Crew Server when he attempted to play a January SCS-organized tournament. Hasson was reportedly banned for hate speech on X. Hasson was also reportedly banned from the Ryugacord server in December.
NJAC ARGUED that the tournaments and servers engaged in double standards in banning Hasson while not enacting measures against players engaged in racism and violent incitement. Hasson’s father noted on social media that the X account that started the alleged ban campaign against Hasson was “still celebrating Hamas today” and “still plays.”
As late as October, the account associated with Mendez according to NJAC had praised Hamas and the October 7 Massacre. The account rejected the civilian designation of those murdered by Hamas on October 7 and said that he was “justifying resistance.”
“God willing, Tel Aviv will be reduced to ash within our lifetime, the state of Palestine restored and the United States empire at the very least handicapped,” wrote the Antifa Caramel X account.
NJAC alleged that the 20 known and unknown servers and tournament organizers, players, and administrators named in the suit violated his civil rights, discriminating against him for expressing fundamental aspects of his Jewish identity.
“For the vast majority of Jewish people across time and space, Zionism, the belief that there should be a sovereign Jewish nation in its ancestral homeland, is an integral aspect of their Jewish ethnic heritage and their racial and national origin identity,” NJAC CEO Mark Goldfeder said in a press release. “As such, it is a protected part of their identity, and they cannot be excluded on the basis of holding that belief.”
Hasson, who, according to NJAC, became ranked third in Smash in Israel during a 2022 gap year in the country and in 2024 ranked 19 worldwide for the character Terry, supposedly lost the opportunity to win prize money, equipment, and awards because of the ban.
NJAC Litigation Counsel and attorney Matthew Mainen said in the same press release that “Prominent leaders in the Smash and greater gamer community have made clear that if you are a Jew whose Jewish identity entails supporting Israel and opposing those who seek its destruction, you will be ostracized, but if you are a non-Jew spewing vile antisemitism and supporting the destruction of Israel, you will be welcomed with open arms. This sort of blatant double standard is exactly the kind of situation civil rights law is designed to eliminate.”