Blacklisted: Carlos Rodriguez reportedly forced to sell G2 Esports shares by Riot

Carlos Rodriguez has been blacklisted by Riot Games and is being forced to sell his shares in G2 Esports, according to Esportmaniacos.

Rodriguez recently stepped down as the CEO of G2 after he posted a video of himself partying with known misogynist and alleged human trafficker Andrew Tate. This video received backlash from the community but Rodriguez doubled down on his actions, saying that he would party with whoever he wanted. G2 released a statement a day later, saying that Rodriguez would take two months of unpaid leave. Shortly after, it was reported that G2 lost its VALORANT partnership spot in the Americas league due to the controversy, costing the organization millions. After G2 was denied VALORANT partnership, Rodriguez released a video saying that he would be stepping down as CEO.

Now, it appears that Riot is trying to further crack down on Rodriguez by reportedly forcing him to sell his stocks in G2. This would leave Rodriguez with no further ties to the organization that he built from the ground up, which is what Riot seems to be trying to achieve. G2 is still a huge part of Riot’s League of Legends European Championship, which the organization has won countless trophies in.

“Some people said some were scared of also losing their LEC spot,” according to Esportmaniacos, as translated by Dot Esports. “According to information that was relayed to me, it seems—and I wish I had another source to confirm it—but it seems Riot came to G2 and said, ‘Ocelote [Rodriguez] is blacklisted. He can’t be a part of anything that involves Riot.’ And it seems—though I don’t know—but it seems Ocelote had to sell his shares in G2. That’s why in his video he said he no longer has ties with G2.”

Riot has yet to make a formal statement about the G2 situation regarding Rodriguez and his involvement with the organization after stepping down as CEO. G2 has also not released another formal statement since accepting Rodriguez’s resignation. 

Update Sept. 26 2:27pm CT: Head of esports for League of Legends in EMEA Maximilian Peter Schmidt posted a tweet in response to the claim that Riot forced Rodriguez to sell his shares in G2.

“Hey everyone, I saw several false rumors regarding G2 & Carlos and wanted to clarify: The LEC has not requested Carlos to resign from G2 nor divest his ownership,” Schmidt said. “We opened an investigation last week per our LEC rules, which is still ongoing.”