Riot Games temporarily suspends Valorant pro TenTen, issues warning against RRQ's fl1pzjder

Riot Games issued a notice on the VCT Pacific Twitter page announcing that Japanese Valorant pro, TenTen, has been suspended from his next four VCT appearances. This action is in light of the racist comments made by the player on RRQ in-game leader Saibani "fl1pzjder" Rahmad's stream earlier in July 2023. The notice also mentioned that a warning had been sent to fl1pzjder regarding the same incident.

TenTen's former team, Northeption, was prompt in responding to his behavior, and the player was fired from the squad only hours after the clip surfaced on Twitter. There were claims that fl1pzjder had also made inappropriate comments during the exchange, but no concrete action was taken against him. An official investigation into the incident was also launched by Riot Games, the outcome of which has been declared today.

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Why was the Japanese Valorant pro TenTen suspended by Riot Games?

On July 5, 2023, a clip from fl1pzjder's stream cropped up on the internet. They depicted him in an argument with TenTen about getting kills during a Valorant Ranked game. The exchange led to TenTen calling fl1pzjder a "f****** Indian." There were also other racist remarks made by the Japanese player under the assumption that Rahmad was of Indian Origin.

This incident shocked the Valorant community. Issues like this are rampant on the game's servers across the world and are a major problem that needs to be tackled. However, an exchange like this between two professional players, that too on a live broadcast, was exceptionally shocking.

The incident was unfortunate as TenTen was a promising player from Korea, who had started making his mark on the up-and-coming Japanese Tier-2 scene. This setback might make it difficult for him to get offers in the future. That said, behavior like this cannot be ignored and strict action must be taken.

Northeption was quick to release an official statement condemning the behavior and releasing TenTen from their roster. TenTen was also prompt in releasing a statement of apology, taking accountability for his actions.

He said (translated from Japanese):

"I deeply regret that I made unforgivable remarks. I also take the punishment from the team very seriously. I'm so sorry."

The fact that Riot Games launched an investigation into the matter and released the statement suspending TenTen and warning fl1pzjder shows their commitment to building a healthy community for Valorant that is free from problematic behavior such as this.