Filipino eSports Player Kuku Palad Allegedly Made Racist Comments, Gets Banned From Playing A Major DotA 2 Tournament In China
KUKU PALAD – A Filipino eSports player named Carlos Kuku Palad was banned from playing in a major DotA 2 tournament in China for allegedly making racist comments.
Palad is one of the members of the Filipino DotA 2 team “TNC Predator“, who will be participating in a Chongqing Major in China in January. On November 3 (Saturday), during a pub game, Palad typed the words “ching chong”, which is a racial slur against Chinese. This was followed after another Filipino player did the same thing in a competitive match weeks ago.
This enraged the Chinese fans gave review bombs in a Steam page in order to plea the authorities to have Palad sanctioned.
According to Kotaku, DotA2 developer Valve instructed the team to reprimand Palad’s behaviors as they did not plan to jump in. Valve eventually entered when the team failed to do so.
TNC Predator’s manager tried to defend Palad’s actions, saying that “ching chong” was one of the member’s handles but later renounced the claim.
TNC Predator then deduct Palad’s earnings by 50% from the event. They plan on having him to play in the tournament. However, this is what followed:
After talking to the organizers of the Chongqing Major, it was confirmed to us that the following may happen if Kuku will attend the Major:
1. He might not be able to enter the country
2. The city government will possibly cancel the tournament should he attend— TNC Predator (@TNCPredator) December 2, 2018
3. The organizers will not be able to guarantee his safety should he attend
The organizers also informed us that neither TNC nor Kuku is banned from attending the Major.
— TNC Predator (@TNCPredator) December 2, 2018
In light of this, TNC has yet to decide whether we will continue playing in the event.
For now, we will be exploring all of our options.
We will update the community in the coming days about TNC’s decision. Thank you.
— TNC Predator (@TNCPredator) December 2, 2018
As per the report, some DotA casters reacted to the action taken by Valve and TNC. Here are some reactions:
If kuku isn’t allowed to play at the major I refuse to cast officially for the major , we all make mistakes and 1 mistake should not forbid you from playing at a tournament that potentially decides your whole career
— Grant Harris (@GranDGranT) December 2, 2018
I’m personally pleased Valve stepped in. I think they should do so more often and take more of a lead on esports. I do however wish it hadn’t taken all the drama for it to happen.
I hope now we can all move on, unite against racism in any form and get back to great dota.
— Redeye (@PaulChaloner) December 4, 2018
What do you think?
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