G2 Esports CEO’s actions may have cost the company a Valorant franchise slot

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G2 Esports CEO Carlos Rodriguez agreed to choose 8 months of unpaid go away on Monday immediately after he appeared in a movie on Twitter celebrating a victory with banned influencer Andrew Tate.

That reportedly resulted in G2 dropping a franchise slot in Riot Games’ Valorant esports league that was introduced now. Riot Games uncovered 30 groups in the Valorant Global Leagues now, and G2 was not among the them.

Counter Strike reporter neL documented on Twitter that the cause G2 was still left out was mainly because of the controversy about Rodriguez and Tate.

Rodriguez agreed to just take the unpaid depart soon after he posted a video clip of himself on Twitter on Saturday while celebrating with Tate, an influencer who was banned past month on TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram right after problems about conditions of support violations these kinds of as despise speech and misogyny.

G2 had just won the 2022 League of Legends European Championship spring season and it was a runner up in the summer time.

“Nobody will ever be ready to law enforcement my friendships. I attract my line here. I social gathering with whoever the fuck I want,” Rodriguez mentioned soon after complaints linked to the Tate online video. By Sunday, G2 Esports tweeted, “Last night time we unsuccessful you. The actions of our CEO spoke a language in stark distinction with the price and the culture G2 lives by and strives for. And for that we apologize.”

And Rodriguez claimed Sunday, “Many G2 supporters were being permit down this weekend which created confusion about what I stand for. It has usually been my dependable target to stand for complete equality of chance no matter of who you are or where by you arrive from, which is what gaming is all about.”

G2 lately declared its very first all-girl League of Legends crew. G2 was value $340 million according to a Forbes report in Might. It could possibly be due for a new evaluation on that entrance. G2 and Riot did not reply to requests for comment.

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