MIBR fines fer for racist comments during stream

Brazilian CS:GO team MIBR fined fer yesterday for making racist comments during a Twitch stream two weeks ago.

The 28-year-old interacted with one of his viewers who said that fer kept touching his hair. “You’re sad because your hair is bad and stiff?” fer said. “Mine is good and straight, you’re angry because your hair is stiff.” In Brazil, this is a common insult toward people of African descent.

The CS:GO star then got noticeably angry when some of his viewers pointed out that he was being racist. “Why racist, bro? Everything is racist to you,” Fer said and showed his middle finger to the webcam.

After the clip went viral earlier this week, MIBR issued a statement yesterday condemning the star’s actions and punished him with a fine. “Fer, one of our players, made a mistake,” MIBR said. “He was wrong. He made comments in his stream that do not reflect our values, and we believe, that also do not reflect his values.”

The value of the fine wasn’t disclosed by MIBR, but the team said that it’ll work with fer to donate it to organizations that fight for racial equality. “Fer knows and recognizes this type of language feeds a narrative that is wrong and deeply damaging,” MIBR said. “Instead of hiding, he faced the problem and apologized.”

Fer apologized to his followers minutes after MIBR issued the fine. The star said he’s known for joking with everything and has no prejudice against anything.

“I ended up saying a racist phrase, which has structural racism behind it and I have no shame to admit that I didn’t have the knowledge about structural racism,” fer said. “After talking to some people and search, I understood the impact it has.”

Although fer was fined, he didn’t face any other sanctions and normally played against Chaos yesterday at BLAST Premier Spring Showdown North America. MIBR’s statement and fer’s apology have divided fans in Brazil, with many saying that fer wasn’t racist, even though the star recognized his mistake.