The Call of Duty pro Daunte “Sibilants” Gray (18) from Atlanta FaZe was considered a great talent. However, he apparently got so upset during a tournament that he made a homophobic remark, ruining his career for the time being: He was dropped from the huge e-sports organization FaZe.
This is what happened: Sibilants played a practice match with his team Atlanta FaZe at academy level against the Chicago Huntsmen. During the match, the player is said to have shot at the Chicago Huntsmen fans in a Twitch stream after winning a round. It is reported that a homophobic insult was also made, as stated by Dexerto.
It was said on reddit that the “fans of Chicago must have gotten into his head” – they must have provoked him.
Atlanta FaZe did not tolerate the homophobic insult and expelled the 18-year-old pro from their academy.
On Twitter, Sibilants initially reacted quite annoyed and insulting. Only later did he cautiously apologize for his actions.
Young pro initially angry, but then aware
This is what Sibilants wrote on Twitter: The pro initially seemed to have no awareness right after his dismissal from FaZe and continued to lash out. In already deleted tweets, he referred to gaming as “a waste of time” and confirmed that he is no longer with FaZe.
Ironically, he stated, apparently completely tilted, that he would not allow any opposing fans to influence him.
He adds clear messages to his haters: “F everyone who is against me, you brought this on yourselves.”
He explains his statements by saying that he will never present the perfect image for social media and that he will not change.
Here he shows awareness: Only two hours after his angry tweets, the player posts an apology (via twitter). There he appears significantly more aware and said things like “I messed up. I shouldn’t have said what I said, and that’s why I lost everything.”
Additionally, he apologizes to the LGBTQ community and states that he did not mean to offend anyone from the community. He also extends another apology to FaZe, his community, and all the people who supported him. He will come back, says Sibilants.
However, even after his apology, the pro continues to tweet actively, already asking which new team he should join. He also says, “My FaZe team could have won championships.”
Great pressure on young pros
What is behind this? In the eSports scene, especially young players are active. Many of them are even younger than 18 years. Recently, a teenager dropped out of school and sometimes earns more than his father.
There is great pressure on the players that many of them do not perceive directly or cannot cope with. After all, they continue to play their video games, but now thousands are watching them.
In normal gaming, it is common for many to get caught up in the moment, to blow off steam, and to flame. However, insults that may not be taken seriously among friends are received very differently in public.
Many young players are not yet familiar with the implications that such statements and tweets carry. The 15 minutes of rage that are usually forgotten the next day have long-term consequences in the “real world.”
This is the current situation for Sibilants: The young pro has initially put several obstacles in his path with his statements. It remains questionable whether another eSports organization will sign the player in the near future. After all, he is now associated with these negative statements and there is generally no shortage of strong, young talents.
This seems to be particularly frustrating for Sibilants, as the player performed really well in the tournaments. Looking at his still small tournament statistics, you can see only 1st and 2nd places. His team was solid, and it is even more frustrating that he has now blocked his own path with these statements.
There are many other examples where young pros have ruined their careers through thoughtless actions. The most well-known case is probably that of FaZe Jarvis. He used, according to his own statements, an aimbot in Fortnite as an experiment and for entertainment purposes. In the end, he was punished with a lifetime ban by Epic. At that time, Jarvis was only 17 years old.
The case attracted great attention at the time because it well illustrates the situation in the current eSports organizations. Many young people are active there who cannot always cope with the pressure.
