VALORANT is a game known for having a toxic environment for players, especially women and people of color. The voice and text chats are used to hurl slurs or derogatory remarks at other players when someone disapproves of them. And recently, a YouTuber named IShowSpeed has been brought into the spotlight for toxic behavior and was banned from Riot Games’ titles last night.
Last month, Speed was playing VALORANT and was the last man standing in a round. After losing, he voiced his disappointment, to which a team member responded, “you’ve got to hit those shots, man.” At this point, Speed began berating his teammate for insinuating that he was a new player, repeatedly calling them stupid and saying obscenities.
When a female player jumped to the defense of the other person, this seemed to anger Speed even further. Almost immediately after she started talking, Speed yelled mockingly, “What? What? Is a bitch talking to me right now? Is a female talking to me?” He then asked his audience if he’s “tripping” or if a woman is talking to him.
Speed finished berating the female player with “get off the fucking game and do your husband’s dishes, bitch.” He then repeated the same insults about the woman, claiming she didn’t know who she was talking to.
This clip was shared on Twitter last night by Jake Lucky, where he pointed out that he believes VALORANT queues are toxic due to behavior like what was shown in the video. Users across the site were quick to express their displeasure, so IShowSpeed responded.
But first, a Riot employee, Sara Dadafshar, responded to the viral tweet, saying that Speed has been banned from VALORANT and all other games from the developer. “We do not want players like this in our community,” Dadafshar said.
It was only half an hour later that Speed posted his apology. In the video, he said he noticed the clip was getting more popular and that he wanted to say a few things. “Y’know that day, I wasn’t having a good day,” he said.
Speed then claimed he was receiving racist text-to-speech donations as well as jokes about his dead aunt before that clip was recorded, and that’s why he was making those comments. “I don’t just bash people for no reason,” he said.
“I was completely wrong in that situation right there,” Speed said. “I can’t say anything to justify that situation right there. But that clip is from months ago, and I’ve changed from that and I grew.”
But a month ago, another clip shows Speed engaging in much of the same abuse toward another female teammate.
Speed was also perma-banned from Twitch late last year due to an incident on Adin Ross’ “E-Date” show. In a clip, Speed asks Ash Kaash if she’d reproduce with him if he were the last man on Earth. When Ash says no, Speed replies, “who gonna stop me?”
Riot has made it clear that it won’t stand for that kind of abuse toward its players and banned Speed accordingly. Since this is a perma-ban, Speed won’t be able to play VALORANT unless Riot makes a huge pivot. In the meantime, Speed will need to find a new game to stream to his audience.
