The Valorant Game Changers World Championship began on November 15 and was met with transphobic comments in Twitch chat during the Cloud9 White and G2 Gozen matchup.
The main broadcast of the Valorant Game Changers World Championship was hit with transphobic comments via Twitch chat during its first day of competition.
The comments, which were documented on Twitter, were mainly directed at Cloud9 White player Bob ‘Bob’ Tran who is transgender.
The chat also spouted sexist comments toward the players competing and saw one of the broadcast hosts, Yinsu Collins, comment on the situation along with other prominent Valorant figures.
This is sad. People still haven't changed after years of women in pro esports/sports. I feel bad, especially for Bob, with over 75% of hate comments toward her. (This was only half of the last series after most people had already been banned for sexism/transphobia.) pic.twitter.com/Lja5RLdHmN
— lolyx (@lolyxval) November 15, 2022
“This is just a fraction of what women and marginalized gendered players have to deal with and it’s absolutely unacceptable. These competitors are putting themselves out there for a shot at a trophy and there is nothing but admirable about that, also Bob owns you,” Collins said on Twitter.
A member of the Riot Games Twitch moderation team responded to the original tweet highlighting the chat of the competition and said people could send them accounts of individuals they felt were breaking Riot Games’ terms of service and they would be handled.
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The chat of the event is heavily moderated by Riot Games with many of the comments getting scrubbed and accounts losing commenting privileges on the main broadcast Twitch channel.
Valorant Game Changers World Championships marches on
Game Changers is a women’s, and other marginalized genders in some regions, only tournament series in Valorant. There are only two players at the event that identify as transgender. The world championship features a $500,000 prize pool for the five-day event featuring eight teams.
The competition ended its first day with Cloud9 White making their way to the lower bracket and G2 Gozen moving on to the upper bracket final. The event features teams from EMEA, North America, Brazil, Latin America, APAC and East Asia.
The tournament will continue with Guild X and Shopify Rebellion facing off followed by FENNEL GC vs. Team Liquid Brazil on November 16.