ESPN postpones 'Apex Legends' video game broadcast after mass shootings

ESPN has postponed a planned tournament broadcast for the popular video game Apex Legends in the wake of recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.

Highlights from the competition, the EXP Apex Legends Invitational at X Games, were set to air this weekend on ESPN2. Apex Legends is a popular battle royale game and Fortnite competitor in which players use weapons, including guns, to eliminate other users.

The broadcast was postponed out of respect for victims of the two mass shootings, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told FOX Business. The event was rescheduled for October on ESPN2.

Esports journalist Rod Breslau was first to report the decision.

At least 31 people were killed in the mass shootings at a Walmart store in El Paso and outside bars in Dayton. President Donald Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., were among several prominent figures who attributed a rise in gun violence in part to violent video games in the aftermath of the attacks.

“We must stop the glorification of violence in our society,” Trump said earlier this week. “This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace. It is too easy today for troubled youth to surround themselves with a culture that celebrates violence."

The video game industry has pushed back on critics, arguing that researchers have found no clear evidence of a correlation between gaming and gun-related violence.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP

“More than 165 million Americans enjoy video games, and billions of people play video games worldwide. Yet other societies, where video games are played as avidly, do not contend with the tragic levels of violence that occur in the U.S,” the Entertainment Software Association, a prominent trade group, said in a statement in response to Trump's remarks.