'Super Smash Bros' Tournament Ends With Crab Chucked at Winner Hungrybox
Super Smash Bros. Melee games are known to get heated, and often the losing player gets pretty crabby. Last night's Pound 2019 event in Laurel, Maryland, took that meaning to a whole other level.
Juan "Hungrybox" DeBiedma of Team Liquid had just defeated long-time rival Joseph "Mango" Marquez of Cloud9 in a tense game of Melee. After DeBiedma shook Marquez's hand and started to wrap up his controller, a fan threw a dead crab at his head. Picking up the boiled crustacean, DeBiedma yelled at the crowd and asked who had chucked it onto the stage. The clip was captured live on the VGBootcamp Twitch channel, with commentary from casters who seem confused as to what just happened.
"I'm not sure what that is, oh it's a crab… that's not cool man," the announcers yelled.
Earlier in the day, a blue steamed crab had been seen on one of the chairs in the audience. It's unclear if there is any connection or a couple of people in Maryland wanted a snack in the middle of their matches.
Someone had a random steamed blue crab sitting on a chair....
— ÃSad-Peaà (@sweet_peaxx) April 21, 2019
IF THIS ISJT THE MOST MARYLAND THING EVER ðð¤ pic.twitter.com/XVzWTHtKTa
After the event, DeBiedma went to Twitter to share his thoughts about what had happened and apologized for losing his "temper."
Sorry for losing my temper. Someone threw a fucking raw crab at me. After a 5 set losers run. Barely missed my head.
— hungrybox (@LiquidHbox) April 21, 2019
What the fuck man
Anyway GGs, no clue how I won that
The Summit 2019 event organizers have announced on Twitter that they know who threw the crab and will be issuing a permanent ban against the crab-chucker at all future Summit events.
We will be perma banning the guy btw. Probably will not be releasing his name publicly but will be submitting it to other Tournament Organizers. We will make an official statement from the Pound Twitter sometime this week so everyone knows this was handled immediately.
— Aposl @ End Game ð (@VGBC_Aposl) April 22, 2019
Memes of the crab spread quickly on Twitter, with some joking about the seeming ridiculousness of the whole situation.
"Congratulations to Hungrybox, the winner of Pou-" pic.twitter.com/DtvJ3y4s4v
— Aloha (@AlohaSmash) April 22, 2019
âIâm back Hungrybox, and now you will face my standâ pic.twitter.com/KJEc9lRUVW
— NGEN|MiniMatt (@MiniMatt_) April 22, 2019
Can't say I like Hungrybox for this matchup. #pound2019 pic.twitter.com/VFWslfgfM9
— PONOS Leon (@PigBoyLeon) April 22, 2019
This crab incident can be seen as both odd and disturbing. DeBiedma nearly avoided a face full of chitin, which could have seriously hurt. This is an assault, and it appears event organizers acted quickly to handle the situation.
Newsweek will update this story with more information as it's released.