Former Immortals AWPer Vito “kNg” Giuseppe has released his own version of events from what can only be described as one 2017’s most controversy-laden weeks in competitive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
The 22-year-old AWPer was subject to an internal suspension from Immortals after issuing a death threat to a competitor, following kNg’s late arrival to the DreamHack Open Montreal grand finals on Sept. 10.
The recipient of the threat, CLG’s Pujan “FNS” Mehta, had joked about several players on Immortals, which included kNg, playing hungover throughout the final day of the event. This sent kNg into a fit of rage, with kNg saying he was late due to an excessive amount of travel in the days prior—he flew from Sweden to the U.S., only to be denied entry at the border and sent back to Brazil before finally flying to Canada.
After losing the grand final to North, who only had to defeat Immortals in one map due to the first map of the series being forfeited, kNg left for Brazil in order to secure his P1 visa.
Once kNg returned to Brazil Immortals utilized two stand-ins, with their coach Raphael “zakk” Fernandes stepping into his place at online events and Raphael “cogu” Camargo taking over at the ELEAGUE Premier. KNg did, however, compete with the squad on Sept. 20 during the North American EPICENTER qualifiers—a move that surprised Immortals CEO Noah Whinston, as kNg remained under suspension until the end of September. As a result of joining the match, the AWPer was removed from the organization on Sept. 20.
The suspension was, allegedly, news to kNg, who claims that Whinston never told him that he was prohibited from competing alongside the squad. Initially, the AWPer had attempted to join the team during its first game against CLG in the EPICENTER qualifier—but was denied by steel, who informed him about his suspension. Hen1 and Lucas1 did, however, reach out to kNg after the first game of the series, and informed him that Immortals management had given him the green light to compete.
There is no direct apology for FNS in kNg’s statement, but the AWPer admits that he was “wrong” in how he handled the situation. As for steel and boltz, kNg writes that: “No matter the organization, we should stay together, but some of them would rather stay with IMT than with the team. I respect their decision, but in my opinion it wasn’t the best, because our team is really good and we had reached the best results in our careers.”
The controversy has resonated throughout the entire CS:GO community, and it remains to be seen exactly what the outcome is for the team.
Published: Sep 21, 2017 10:57 am