Image Credit: TenTen
Northeption released TenTen from their roster after making racist remarks during a ranked game.
It all went downhill for Korean player TenTen after a clip of his heated argument with Rex Regum Qeon's player Saibani "fl1pzjder" Rahmad went viral on Twitter. In the video, TenTen was caught saying racist remarks against Indians.
This enraged Indian social media influencer, m1mosa the prophet, posting the clip and asking why Indians are being targeted when clearly fl1pzjder is an Indonesian. The post attracted the attention of the esports community and garnered one million views.
Northeption took action and decided to terminate its contract with TenTen. The organization also apologized for TenTen’s misconduct and any inconvenience it may have caused.
Northeption has reiterated their members that the company will not tolerate discrimination and violence under any circumstances. Northeption also asked fans for continued support in their team.
TenTen posted a public apology following Northeption’s decision. “As a professional player and as a person, I deeply regret that I made unforgivable remarks. I also take the punishment from the team very seriously. I’m so sorry,” he wrote.
Northeption signed Tenten last November 2022 and he became a key player to the team's advancement in VALORANT Challengers 2023: Japan Split. He was undoubtedly the best-performing player of the team in the said series.
The issue of racism and toxicity has been a constant battle in VALORANT. Professional players are expected to uphold right conduct every time, not just during tournaments and scrims. However, pro players are recently getting involved in racist allegations.
The TenTen incident followed RNG’s Ali ‘Swerl’ Kobraee claims of racial abuse during his first LAN debut at Valorant Champions China Qualifier. Allegedly, staff of Monarch Effect called him “houzi”, which translates to monkey and made monkey noises during the game. Both organizations did not release a statement addressing the allegations but Swerl posted that there is an ongoing investigation.
