A knife skin with hate messages against members of the LGBT community sparked much criticism during an Asian tournament of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The caster Jason Kaplan then asked on Twitter, “How awful can one be?”
This is what happened: During the Perfect World Asia League Summer 2020, the Chinese team Invictus Gaming played against the selection of D13 from Mongolia. The issue was a weapon skin that bears the inscription “LGBT-Slayer”. It was used by Chinese gamer Destroyer.
LGBT stands for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender.”
As a result, there was much criticism against the professional player. The tournament caster, Jason Kaplan, expressed sharp criticism of the gamer, triggering a shitstorm.
Player claims: Skin was just borrowed
This is how the community reacts: On Twitter, Jason Kaplan initially wrote a pretty harsh Tweet about the professional Destroyer. He said, “I’ve seen some disgusting names for skins from people in CS:GO, but Destroyer’s tops it all. How awful can a person be to name his knife “LGBT Slayer”?”
Shortly afterwards, the caster explained the situation from the player’s perspective:
- The knife was just borrowed
- Destroyer will not use it anymore
- Additionally, Kaplan suggests that the Chinese player did not even know what “LGBT Slayer” means and still used the knife
In response to the tweets, there are mixed reactions. Many players see no big problem here. They say it is just pixels in a video game, and that there are greater issues in the world.
Other readers support Kaplan’s opinion. They say sarcastically: “He doesn’t own it, but borrowed it from a homophobic friend and proudly used it in the game. Ah, that makes it so much better.”
Some others think that the professional probably did not know what he had written on his knife. Conversely, not everyone thinks about what the Chinese characters on their items mean.
Are there consequences? So far, no consequences for the incident are known. The professional and his team Invictus Gaming have not officially commented. The tournament organizers also did not issue any penalties.
By the way, this is not the first controversy at a CS:GO tournament. In May, it became known that a man participated in a women’s tournament. He had simply disguised himself as a woman.
Recently, more and more scandals at tournaments have come to light. For example, a 14-year-old player from Super Smash Bros. was allegedly sexually used by a 24-year-old:
24-year-old is said to have sexually used a 14-year-old player from Super Smash Bros.
