Citing a competition rule that forbids players from doing anything to bring them into “public disrepute,” “offend[ing] a portion or group of the public,” or “otherwise damag[ing] Blizzard’s image,” the game company banned Chung “Blitzchung” Ng Wai from playing Hearthstone for a full year and zeroed out some $10,000 in prize money.

Hong Kong native Chung wore the official protester uniform of goggles and gas mask to his post-game interview after the third day of the Grandmasters tournament in Taiwan over the weekend. He proudly shouted “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our age!” as the terrified tournament hosts literally hid behind their monitors - all for naught, since Blizzard fired them anyway.

“While we stand by one’s right to express individual thoughts and opinions, players and other participants that elect to participate in our esports competitions must abide by the official competition rules,” one of US biggest gaming companies said in a statement on Tuesday. 

“We will, as always, resolutely safeguard the country’s dignity,” the official Hearthstone account on Chinese microblogging site Weibo posted. 

Social media swelled with support for Chung and anger against Blizzard, which is 5 percent owned by Chinese software company Tencent. Twitter users shamed the company for imposing censorship on behalf of the Chinese government “because to them money matters more than freedom.”