Riot Bans Two Valorant Players After a Controversial Tea-Bagging Argument

Following a heated incident last month involving teabagging people in games, two Valorant players have been temporarily barred from participating in Riot tournaments.

Riot has ruled that “Dawn Park” is banned from “any association or affiliation with a team in a Riot-sanctioned competition” for three months, while Vivian “Risorah” Dela Cruz has received a nine-month ban. The controversy began in late June on the Galorants Discord (a group dedicated to elevating women and non-binary Valorant players) when one of its members wrote a statement equating teabagging someone in-game to sexual assault. It triggered a heated dispute on the Discord chat, with Dawn and Risorah getting involved before moderators shut down the whole server for a week.

According to Riot, in addition to conducting interviews with everyone engaged in the event, the company evaluated “detailed screenshots and video of the alleged infractions.” All of this has resulted in the temporary bans of Dawn and Risorah, as Riot claims the two were in breach of Rule 7.3.1 (vulgar or hateful speech), and Risorah was also in violation of Rule 7.3.4. (harassment).

Both Dawn and Risorah have responded to the bans with statements released on Twitter:

“I have friends that have literally been raped. I have watched SA happen in broad daylight. It is not something you can compare to crouching in a video game. I was visibly upset by this, as were hundreds of thousands of people, and replied under her thread expressing my frustrations and concerns.”

-Dawn

 

“I will be taking this punishment with the responsibility of my actions that led to my situation. My future in competitive play or Valorant, in general, is unknown, so, we’ll see where I go from here.”

-Risorah

Dawn’s ban will conclude on September 27, 2022, while Risorah’s suspension will complete on March 27, 2023.