Chris “Dubby” McFarland won this year's Madden NFL eSports competition on February 3rd in Houston. This tournament take place annually in the days leading up to the Super Bowl. McFarland won $75,000 for of a $250,000 prize pool for finishing in first. place. Unfortunately for him, he was forced to give back $3,000 of his winnings after his subsequent behavior on Twitter.

As McFarland was in the midst of his run to capture the coveted title of Madden champion, people began to bring up racist tweets from McFarland's past. Some of these tweets included him using the N-word in reference to black people along with a slew of other racial remarks and degrading comments. These tweets were posted in 2010 and 2011 but were still tweeted by him nontheless.

In response to these tweets, EA's competitive gaming commissioner Matt Marcou gave the following quote:

These posts violated our Code of Conduct and don’t represent the values of our organization.

Marcou quickly met with McFarland to, "warn him that his posts were inappropriate and could not continue." McFarland however felt the need to take to Twitter following his tournament win to call out those who had been digging through his past tweets.

It was after this that EA decided to step in and fine McFarland $3,000 for his comments. They also deducted 100 Madden NFL Championship Series Points from his name which is a fairly decent amount considering the top-ranked player this past December had only 1,000 points. Of the fine, Marcou said, “It’s important that we clearly set conduct boundaries to guide our competitors and ensure that promotional and financial opportunities for all parties continue to grow."

In the days since McFarland's fine, his attitude has seemed to change drastically. In a statement that was emailed to Polygon, McFarland gave this statement:

[A lot] of what I said was outta passion and emotion at the time. I understand everything that I did wrong and accept responsibility for my words. Honestly the fine just shows how much this game is growing. It’s not just for the small group of pro Madden players, it’s for the entire country. We as players need to understand that we not only represent ourselves but the growth of the game. [...] EA holding us more responsible for our actions is a reflection on how big they want Madden to grow, at the end of the day that’s what we all want. I have accepted the consequences and plan on representing both myself and the game of Madden positively.

Despite the fine, McFarland is still slated to compete in the Madden Championship that will take place on May 31.