G2 Esports CEO Carlos Rodriguez agreed to take eight weeks of unpaid leave on Monday after he appeared in a video on Twitter celebrating a victory with banned influencer Andrew Tate.
That reportedly resulted in G2 losing a franchise slot in Riot Games’ Valorant esports league that was announced today. Riot Games revealed 30 teams in the Valorant International Leagues today, and G2 was not among them.
Counter Strike reporter neL reported on Twitter that the reason G2 was left out was because of the controversy around Rodriguez and Tate.
Rodriguez agreed to take the unpaid leave after he posted a video of himself on Twitter on Saturday while celebrating with Tate, an influencer who was banned last month on TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram after complaints about terms of service violations such as hate speech and misogyny.
G2 had just won the 2022 League of Legends European Championship spring season and it was a runner up in the summer.
“Nobody will ever be able to police my friendships. I draw my line here. I party with whoever the fuck I want,” Rodriguez said after complaints related to the Tate video. By Sunday, G2 Esports tweeted, “Last night we failed you. The actions of our CEO spoke a language in stark contrast with the value and the culture G2 lives by and strives for. And for that we apologize.”
And Rodriguez said Sunday, “Many G2 fans were let down this weekend which created confusion about what I stand for. It has always been my consistent target to stand for absolute equality of opportunity regardless of who you are or where you come from, which is what gaming is all about.”
G2 recently announced its first all-woman League of Legends team. G2 was worth $340 million according to a Forbes report in May. It might be due for a new evaluation on that front. G2 and Riot did not respond to requests for comment.