Pokémon Go fans are in uproar over the “embarrassing” decision to disqualify the winner of this year’s Orlando Regional Championship, following a celebration that was allegedly deemed unsportsmanlike.
Firestar73 celebrated his win by standing up and swiftly removing his headphones, in order to raise his fists in the air and do a fist pump. He then crosses over to his opponent, nitetimeclasher, where the two amicably shake hands. You can watch the moment for yourself via the embedded video, below.
In the hours that followed Firestar’s win, however, it became clear that it was nitetimeclasher who had instead been awarded the victory — to the astonishment of fans watching online, who have since called for the decision to be reversed. Many have shared the contact form for The Pokémon Company’s website, where fans have been encouraged to let their feelings be known.
So here’s a live look with a close up of the headphones making contact on the desk. This had to be a decision that came from the higher ups as an attempt to be “consistent” with their ruling based on the incident that happened a day prior (that video is here… pic.twitter.com/S3tzpgtWtW
— Tru Inferno at Orlando Regionals! (@TruInfernoPoGo) April 6, 2026
“This is a genuinely embarrassing ruling,” wrote IPissExcellentThrows on top Pokémon Go fan reddit TheSilphRoad. “Like so insanely bad I can’t help but jump to the conclusion of corruption… This has to be overturned. Feel bad for the deserving winner but also sucks for the other guy who is possibly going to get weird hate for something he didn’t do.”
“He had his win stripped for removing his headphone and doing a fist pump? I don’t even go here but that’s insane,” added rainbowbrite517. “All followed by a handshake and bow to his opponent. Craziness.”
The Pokémon Company has not commented publicly on the decision, given their exact reasoning why the reaction counted for a disqualification, or acknowledged the growing negative feedback online to it all taking place. IGN has contacted the company for more.
Nitetimeclasher, now the official Orlando Regional Champion, has not commented publicly on social media, and is believed to be bound to accepting the win per tournament rules. But unverified screenshots taken from Discord show that, in private, the player has acknowledged that “Firestar is the Orlando regional champion,” to a positive response from other fans.
As for Firestar himself, the now-disqualified player has issued a brief message thanking fans for their support, and promised a full account of his side of the story will follow. “Hello everyone, I am incredibly thankful for the support directed my way,” Firestar wrote on Twitter/X. “I have a direct account of my experiences releasing soon in an interview, which I will link when it’s out. For the moment, please use the support link if you disagree with the ruling as well. Love yall <3.”
Some fans have pointed to an earlier disqualification at the same event, albeit within a Pokémon TCG match, where a winning player was also disqualified for removing their headphones in an abrupt manner. But as others have stated, this decision likely also took into account the player standing up before the end of their turn — when it became they clear they would win, rather than after having completed the winning move.
Still, at least this time Pokémon players weren’t disqualified for allegedly flinging poo, as was reported at an official UK tournament back in 2012.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
