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I think thats basically what they meant with that statement but they dealt with the issue really badly. They should have stated it as you put it.
Their PR team should be fired.

100%

The official statement was pure trash. Using emotive language was also pretty unprofessional.

You are spot on here. Politics has no place in sport, nor plenty of other places either.

That clause should have been in black and white as part of the agreement when parties chose to participate in their events, so it was curious that Blizzard used the "public image" instead.

Bad PR, or stupidly incompetent legal team. Every major company should have that clause in their contracts.