Fnatic is a professional esports organization based in London, United Kingdom. On February 3, 2021, Fnatic entered VALORANT by signing SUMN FC. Fnatic has been in the world of eSports for a long time now, in various games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Valorant, PUBG Mobile, League of Legends, Rocket League, and much more. Since last year Fnatic has been doing well in Valorant and recently has qualified for Valorant Masters. But they suspended Fnatic BRAVEAF right before the major tournament starts.
Ukrainian citizens are building Molotov cocktails in their homes to fight Russian tanks!
These people are #BraveAF
— Agolf Twitler Slayer (@bblock29) February 25, 2022
Twitter has florished with comments in support of, or against the professional player. It has been a very controversial situation and therefore, Fnatic has had to take actions against the player to cool down the situation before the major tournament.
Why Has BraveAF Been Suspended?
BraveAF joined Fnatic on 21st January 2021, from OneBreathe Gaming. He is 26 years old player from Russia. Recently, a few chats screenshots were leaked with BraveAF commenting on the very sensitive topic of war between Russia and Ukraine. He had a chat with a girl from Ukraine before the 24th of February. And the chats were leaked on Twitter, by the girl on the 31st of March 2022. Many people are guessing that the girl is playing an act of revenge on BraveAF by leaking the chats 10 days before the Masters starts. While many have shown their anger towards Brave about the comments he passed.
Please @PlayVALORANT @FNATIC @cArn @ValorantEsports pic.twitter.com/Wg6iuglkvE
— yXo (@yxo7) March 30, 2022
Here are a few screenshots of chats leaked by the girl he had a chat with. The comments by BraveAF are offensive to the Ukrainians and some are even saying that one should not have a say on topics he/she is not familiar with.
About current situation… these screenshots are from direct messages of me and Ukrainian girl. We had a little chat before 24th of feb and I wrote her in the morning of 24th feb to know if she’s alright. By that time nobody knew what’s going on and I just wrote my initial…
— FNATIC braveaf (@braveaff) March 30, 2022
BraveAF has issued an apology and has said that he did not intend to hurt or offend anyone, they had a chat before things got serious between Russia and Ukraine. Fans are showing their love and support to BraveAF and wishing that he will return to pro-Valorant soon. While some are showing hate and anger how can someone joke about such a sensitive topic?
What Actions Has Fnatic Taken?
Fnatic has released their official statement stating that they are aware of the ongoing situation with Andrey “BraveAF” Gorchakov. Effective immediately, they have suspended him from pro play at Fnatic while they run an investigation.
Some russians think we should give up as fast as possible, right @braveaff ? Well this is your and yours goverment biggest mistake, u dont know shit about ukrainians. https://t.co/a357njGpE9
— FPX ANGE1 (@OfficialANGE1) March 30, 2022
FunPlus Phoenix IGL ‘ANGE1’ said “Some Russians think we should give up as fast as possible, right BraveAF? Well this is your and yours government biggest mistake, u don’t know sh**about Ukrainians”.
BraveAF will not be allowed to play Valorant professionally until he is proven not guilty in the situation. They will be replacing him with another player who is yet to be announced for the Valorant Masters, starting 10th April. As it is a LAN tournament guesses are they will be hiring or loaning out an experienced player, who will not feel the massive pressure of LAN.
Also Read- VCT 2022 Stage 1 Masters Iceland: Stream, Schedule, All Qualified Teams.