Key conclusions
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Justice Cappalongo has reportedly been kicked out of Winthrop Esports.
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Capalonga's teammate CJFrozen confirmed Capalonga's removal from the program.
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This is not the first time that the player Smash Bros. accused of inappropriate behavior with a minor.
Super Smash Bros. College player Justice “Justice” Cappalongo has reportedly Ultimate, was kicked out of its eSports program for inappropriate messages to a minor.
Capalongo was a student player for Winthrop Esports, Winthrop University's eSports program, on a scholarship to attend and participate at the University of South Carolina.
Justice, Min Min's main player, was ranked as the 149th best player in the world on the LumiRank community leaderboard. Cappalonga had a pretty good tournament record, finishing 65th at Genesis X, 49th at Supernova 2024, and 49th at Riptide 2024. Cappalonga studied business administration and marketing at Winthrop University.
An all too familiar story
The first report of Capalonga's “ban” came from his Winthrop Esports teammate CJ “CJFrozen” Wiley, who created a message on X about his teammate's inappropriate behavior. His message reads: “Regarding Justice. Justice is permanently banned from South Carolina Smash for inappropriate conversation and actions with minors. If you are a tournament organizer and looking for more information, please send me a direct message.”
In response to a question in which Wiley asked if Cappalongo was “banned from Winthrop Esports,” Wiley replied “Yes.” Capalongo's status as an eSports program and Winthrop University as an institution is currently unknown, but it is not unheard of for scholarship students to be removed from the institution entirely if they lose their scholarship due to behavioral issues. Cappalongo disabled or deleted his account on X, presumably in response to the allegations. We've reached out to Winthrop Esports for comment.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that members of the Super Smash Bros. community. were involved in indecent relations with minors. Former professional player and prominent member of the community, Gonzalo Raul Barrios “Zero” Castro, previously admitted to “sexting” two minors in 2020, although he later recanted those admissions and denied everything. Castro settled a defamation case against Jacqueline “Jisu” Choe in 2022; Choe accused Castro of inappropriate behavior towards minors and harassment of Choe herself, including forcibly showing her pornography against her will.
The first appearance of the crossover-filled fighting platformer series on Nintendo Switch, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, was the largest edition at launch. It has 89 fighters, over 100 stages and single and multiplayer modes.
