Cover-Credits:
Daniel “Dafran” Francesca is a former Overwatch League pro player who was signed to Atlanta Reign. He took a break from competitive esports and streaming and made a return as a content creator. Atlanta Reign welcomed Dafran back to the organization recently and publicly announced that he would be joining as a content creator. It immediately led to pushback from fans and the organization had to drop all plans of signing Dafran.
Why Atlanta Reign reversed Dafran’s signing
Overwatch fans pointed out that Dafran has tons of controversies behind his name. The player used to actively throw games in Overwatch on smurf accounts and was banned by Blizzard Entertainment for it. On several occasions, he apologized for his actions and said that he will reform himself but the community feels that the player has not changed.
The biggest controversy Dafran found himself in was during Valorant player Jay “Sinatraa” Won’s sexual assault controversy. Sinatraa was accused of sexual assault by his ex-girlfriend Cleo Hernandez. Eventually, Riot Games revealed in a statement that the investigation against Sinatraa did not come to a definitive conclusion on the allegations made by Cleo.
However, while the investigation was taking place Dafran defended Sinatraa who is a former Overwatch pro. Dafran also went on to attack Cleo verbally on Twitter and later apologized for the incident. He took a break from streaming after that and returned after a few months.
After Dafran’s signing was reversed, he said on Twitter, “Atlanta Reign reversed the signing. Dont hate on them, my name has some bad past written on it, it makes sense. The world does not believe I am reformed yet! Maybe in a year or two. We keep on fighting the good fight.”
The community is divided on this decision. While a part of the community does not want him back because of his controversial nature, others pointed out that Dafran had apologized to Cleo and she had accepted his apology. Some feel that the controversy around him should have ended long ago but the public image of Atlanta Reign would be threatened if Dafran would find himself in yet another controversy and it ended up listening to the community’s feedback.
