London Spitfire flex support Owen “Prov1de” Warner has been accused of exchanging explicit messages and photos with a 16-year-old player in 2019, according to screengrabs posted on Twitter.
The player, who goes by Emma on Twitter, posted a series of screengrabs on April 7 that shows a conversation on Discord from early 2019 between themselves and a user identified as Prov1de. The Discord ID shown in the conversation with Emma matches the Discord ID Prov1de used in a “looking for team” tweet in 2021. In their tweet, Emma says they were 16 at the time and Prov1de was 20, which aligns with his listed birth date on Liquipedia.
In the screengrabs, Prov1de makes explicit comments while acknowledging Emma is underage, asking “am I in the wrong?” at one point.
Earlier today, Emma posted a thread of additional screengrabs from the same Discord conversation with Prov1de. In this second series, Prov1de appears to engage in a conversation about sexual topics while once again noting it’s inappropriate due to Emma’s age. This thread also includes a screengrab that suggests Prov1de sent an explicit picture to Emma.
According to the United Kingdom’s Sexual Offences Act of 2003, which would apply to Prov1de considering his U.K. citizenship, the age of consent is 16 years of age. While this likely removes the possibility of legal action, it does not affect decisions made by the league or the Spitfire.
Prov1de was picked up by the London Spitfire in late 2021 to fill one of the team’s flex support spots. This isn’t the first time Prov1de has been in hot water with the Overwatch League, either. He was previously picked up by the Los Angeles Valiant before the 2020 season began but was dropped once screengrabs of him using racial slurs emerged.
He apologized for the incident and retired, but later rejoined the Overwatch Contenders circuit after being cleared to engage in professional play.
Update April 9, 9:45am CT: The London Spitfire has “mutually parted ways” with Prov1de following an internal investigation.
