KRÜ Esports was banned from the Brazilian VALORANT practice server on Saturday, according to a Twitlonger from Gamelanders Purple assistant coach and a member of the Brazilian practice server commission Beatriz “bebe” Hornes for alleged “racist and discriminatory speech” from Angelo “keznit” Mori.
Banimento KRU Esports – Group VALORANT Treinos SA Closed
Read: https://t.co/1MJsUsU8rx
— KRÜ bebe (@beahornes) February 19, 2022
“Since the beginning of the creation of Discord and after the Pracc Server, the rules have always been available to view in the ‘rules’ channel. Among the rules, No. 3 points out that ‘Any kind of prejudice is unacceptable. Racism, homophobia, bullying and derivatives lead to expulsion (kick) and banning,'” the Twitlonger said according to a translation provided to Upcomer.
“Yesterday (Feb. 18) the server admins received a report of a racist and discriminatory speech by the player keznitdeuS (KRÜ Esports) against the Gamelanders Blue team. Here and everywhere in the world this behavior is intolerable. Because of this and the pre-imposed rules, the KRÜ Esports team is banned from our servers, losing access to the groups of the PRACC. We are waiting on the organization and players for comment.”
This is not the first time keznit has been accused of such actions. Dignitas streamer Rafael “pava” Pavanelli documented the player making monkey noises toward a Brazilian player in ranked back in 2020. Pava also tagged Riot Games Brazil in his post. Gamelanders Blue player Ian “shaW” Jardim posted a screenshot on Friday of keznit calling a Black player CJ, a Black character from the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, in the VALORANT client.
Joguei a partida inteira sem ouvir uma comunicação do amiguinho Keznit e o cara ainda imita um macaco depois que o @bldcs_ ganhou um clutch.
Achei ofensivo @RiotGamesBrasil, quero retaliação. pic.twitter.com/2ApEFpe6dP
— pava (@pavacsgo) November 2, 2020
KRÜ Esports responded to the statement about their ban soon after it was posted.
Estamos cientes do ocorrido e estamos trabalhando internamente sobre o assunto para dar as sanções correspondentes. Desde a nossa criação, temos demonstrado grande comunhão com times e torcedores brasileiros, e é nossa intenção que essa relação continue prosperando no futuro.
— KRÜ Esports (@KRUesports) February 19, 2022
“We are aware of what occurred and are working internally on the matter to give the corresponding sanctions,” KRÜ Esports said according to a translation provided by Upcomer. “Since this team was founded we have demonstrated great communications with Brazilian teams and fans. It is our intention to continue this relationship to prosper into the future.”
Riot Games has yet to comment on the situation, The developer has suspended players for racism in the past. In 2014, Riot suspended Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen for three games following his uses of a racist username “TaipeiChingChong” on the Taiwan League of Legends servers.
KRÜ Esports sent out another statement Monday to address the issue. They announced that the team has returned to the practice server.
🇦🇷🤝🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/OuYz2Xg8cr
— KRÜ Esports (@KRUesports) February 22, 2022
“These days we’ve seen multiple tweets in which the hatred of countries prevailed.” The organization said. “This has to stop. For the continual growth of esports in our region, each Latin American nation depend on each other. History and objectives unite us, and the hatred that we’ve seen through many messages these days don’t do anything except destroy what we’ve been working for. We have resolved the corresponding sanctions internally, and in turn, both teams were warned by the PRACC administration. After a good conversation with our Brazilian pairs/partners, the suspension that we’ve received has been lifted. We continue to insist that this should neither be them or us. To continue forward we have to work together.”
International VALORANT fans last saw the organization at VALORANT Champions in the semifinals. The team is currently playing in the VALORANT Champions Tour Stage 1 Latin America South Challengers 1 group stage.
Editors Note: This story was updated on Feb. 22 to include another KRÜ Esports statement.
