Carlos doubles down on Tate admiration, likely closes the door on return to Riot esports

Carlos “ocelote” Rodríguez, the founder and former CEO of G2 Esports, is doubling down on his admiration of misogynist social media personality Andrew Tate, pretty much ensuring that he won’t return in any executive capacity to the Riot esports ecosystem.

Following his departure from G2 earlier this year, Carlos created a Discord server, and screengrabs from that server posted today showed Carlos heaping praise onto the well-known sexist influencer and the beliefs Tate holds dear.

“I heavily support Andrew Tate and many of his beliefs,” Carlos wrote. “He’s a good man who deserves all the good that he’s experiencing. I have met many people in my life. He is without a doubt one of the best men I’ve dealt with in 32 years of life. He is exactly the type of man you believe he is.”

Over the years, Tate has been suspended from various social media platforms for views and videos that promote violence toward women, blame instances of sexual assault on the victim, and encourage other forms of toxic behavior under the guise of “self help.”

Carlos’ friendship with Tate caught the public’s eye back in September when the former G2 CEO posted a video of himself partying with Tate and others celebrating a G2 victory. When the clip began to circulate, Carlos went on the offensive, saying that his friendships could not be “policed” and that he could “party with whoever the fuck I want.” G2 and Carlos both put out an apologetic statement after, but Carlos has since deleted that apology.

The video and the immediate response to it led to Carlos and G2 parting ways after many years, and also cost G2 a VALORANT partnership spot in the upcoming VCT 2023 season. After Carlos left, Riot suspended Carlos after he “engaged in activity detrimental to the best interest of the League and Riot Games.”

Riot noted in its ruling that Carlos would have to complete sensitivity training and executive training and provide evidence of such before Feb. 11, 2023, to return to the Riot esports ecosystem. But if his decision to double down on supporting Tate is any indication, it seems he has no interest in doing so, and Riot will likely keep that door closed for the time being.