YouTuber and streamer IShowSpeed has been banned by Riot Games from playing Valorant, after a clip he claims is months old resurfaced, showing him berating a female teammate.
Valorant, in particular, has been criticized for having a toxic chat environment for anyone who’s not a man – something developers have been keen to show strong public opposition to.
Despite measures taken, there is little that can be done to prevent someone from randomly bursting into sexist ranting in game chat, even if faced with the threat of a permanent ban.
The problem is of course exacerbated if streamers with large followings exemplify the very behavior that is being stamped out, as IShowSpeed was accused of after the clip went viral on Twitter on April 6.
IShowSpeed apologized for the contents of the clip.He has since apologized for his actions, saying he was totally in the wrong and could not justify his words in any way. In the clip, he calls the teammate a “b*tch” and instructs her to go do dishes instead of playing the game.
However, his almost 7 million subscribers on YouTube are unlikely to ever see him playing Valorant again after producer Sara Dadafshar confirmed they had “permabanned this player from Valorant, as well as all other Riot Games.”
“This is a huge yikes and we do NOT want players like this in our community at all.”
This is a huge yikes and we do NOT want players like this in our community at all. I went ahead and perma banned this player from VALORANT, as well as all other Riot Games. Thanks for raising this. Please keep raising stuff like this and reporting so we can make VAL safer. 🔨🔥
— 🌱 Sara Dadafshar (@npcSara) April 7, 2022
IShowSpeed actually played Valorant on his April 6 stream, which was titled “you guys might not see me no more.”
However, he quit the game mid-match after asking a female player on his team if she was single, to which she responded “shut up.” (See 1:41:49)
IShowSpeed’s channel on YouTube also appears to be in danger too, though.
Replying to the viral clip, YouTube’s Global Head of Gaming Creators responded “On it” – indicating some form of action is set to be taken against Speed.
In explaining his actions in the old clip, Speed said that he had already been subjected to racist abuse from teammates, but that this did not justify his actions.
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