Last week, competitive Pokémon Go player Firestar73 was stripped of his win at an Orlando tournament after his (fairly tame) post-match pop off was deemed “unsportsmanlike” by the event’s judges. After a whirlwind of Pokémon fans and competitive gaming figureheads demanding The Pokémon Company reverse the decision, Firestar has put out a lengthy statement on the matter.
After a long loser’s bracket run, @Firestar73_ wins a decisive game 5 to win the Orlando Regional Championship. Allegedly this celebration was unsportsmanlike, resulting in a game loss and giving NTC The win. I’m at a loss for words, I feel so bad for firestar. pic.twitter.com/72l1RJO31v
— AXN (@ItsAXN) April 5, 2026
Firestar posted the four-page statement in a Google Drive link and shared it on on Twitter. While he thanks his supporters for urging The Pokémon Company to reverse its decision, he clarifies that he doesn’t hold ill will toward the judges and asks that no one send any harassment or threats to anyone involved in the process.
“I don’t want to focus on who’s responsible for the past. I want to focus on the future […]—on why the result should rightly be changed,” he wrote.
Firestar then goes on to lay out several examples of previous Pokémon Go players celebrating at the end of matches with frankly more excitement and energy than his without being given the same penalty. When Firestar won, the issue was reportedly that he threw his headphones down too hard, but you can see pretty plainly in the clips of competitors Wdage and Arceus Aruelius that Firestar’s pop off was altogether pretty restrained compared to other celebrations that competitive Pokémon Go has let slide and even encouraged by featuring them in promotional materials.
Their decision was a good-faith mistake, but a clear mistake nonetheless. That is the universal conclusion of hundreds, if not thousands, of the most dedicated and involved Go trainers from around the world. It would not be an insult to the Tournament Organizer to overturn their decision; it would simply be an acknowledgement that someone who probably didn’t know as much about our community’s history was put in a [difficult] spot, tried to make the right decision, and just got it wrong. That is the consensus of so much of our community.
Firestar goes on to cite the official Go Tournament Handbook, which says that even if his celebration was “unsportsmanlike,” it would not merit a game loss ruling unless it was “used to taunt another competitor or participant.” We’ve reached out to The Pokémon Company for comment and will update the story if we hear back.
