Two Valorant pros banned by Riot Games amidst alleged teabagging controversy

Riot Games, the developers behind popular tactical shooter Valorant, recently banned two pro players for teabagging during a game. The issue has spiked up quite some controversy on social media, with many community members calling out Riot for their double standards.

The issue found its roots in the Galorants Discord server, a volunteer-run community server for Valorant. The incident occurred when Dawn "Dawn" Park used vulgar and targeted remarks against another player. This player was also targeted by Vivian “Risorah” Dela Cruz and was harassed on social media.

Following the incident, Riot Games banned the two individuals from participating in any Riot-approved event in a recent ruling. Dawn was banned for three months, with the ban ending on September 27, 2022. Risorah, on the other hand, was banned for nine months, with their ban ending on March 27, 2023.

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Why did Riot Games ban Valorant pros Dawn and Risorah?

The whole issue stemmed from a small conversation on the Galorants Discord server. Given that teabagging in video games was a very common issue and everyone on social media was talking about it, the topic somehow made it into a discussion on the server towards the latter half of June.

The conversation allegedly took place on a channel meant for important issues. Throughout the conversation, teabagging in games like Valorant was compared to sexual assault, a topic banned on the Galorants Discord server.

The moderators did not step in on time, and the conversation escalated and spilled over to other major social media platforms. While all this was happening, the Galorants Discord server was shut down for close to a week while the moderators were solving the issues that had sparked out throughout the server as a fallout from the conversation.

The now banned players took to Twitter to target the individual who started the conversation on the server. After a month-long investigation, Riot Games finally handed out a ruling where the two pros mentioned above were banned, albeit for a short period. According to Riot Games, these two individuals violated Rule 7.3.1 and Rule 7.3.4 of the Valorant Champions Tour Global Competition Policy.

The rules that the players had allegedly violated (Screenshot by Sportskeeda)

The two players belonged to the Valorant Game Changers community, which has recently seen many controversies. Riot has been accused of being selective when enforcing rules within the community.

While Risorah took responsibility for their actions, Dawn took to Twitter to express their concerns about the ruling. In a Twitlonger statement, Risorah mentioned that they took full responsibility for their actions. Dawn, on the other hand, said they had seen se*ual assault happen in real life. It wasn't something that could be compared to "crouching in a video game."

The ruling has also sparked a debate in the Valorant community on Reddit, where many members have expressed their concerns about the decision that the company took against these players.