Shopify Rebellion GC coach banned from grand final for "offensive gesture"
2022-11-20 10:56:00Riot Games sanctioned Shopify Rebellion's coach Rob "Robwiz" Kennedy for showing a middle finger to Cloud9 White after defeating them in VCT 2022 Game Changers Championship. The operators fined the specialist and banned him from participating in the grand final of the event, and that decision was questioned by many.
Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles lashed out at Riot for "sacrificing competitive integrity." He saw the suspension as an unfair way to sanction the coach.
The coach apologized after the incident, stating that he did it impulsively. Assistant coach Franklin «FIN» Ascencio will replace Robwiz in the grand final.
Heat of the moment got the best of me, sorry. Endured a lot this year and the emotions took over. Fell down to their [C9W] level for a second, all good. <...>
Sucks having to miss the grand finals with my team, worked so hard with them to get here. FIN will be taking my spot on stage today. He works with us every day and is incredible at what he does. So nothing changes for our players. Sorry to anyone I have disappointed.
"Their level" in his message probably means that opponents provoked him and the Shopify Rebellion players previously. Benita «bENITA» Novshadian claimed that this behavior from Cloud 9 White lasted for months.
Valorant caster and analyst Arten "Ballatw" Esa confirmed her words, saying that "there has been content produced that literally encouraged this behavior" and calling for equal justice for both sides.
Cloud9's Melanie "meL" Capone denied the allegations of provoking their rivals. She said they discussed the situation with Rob, and she feels sorry for the penalty applied. Later, meL deleted the tweet for some reason.
VCT 2022 Game Changers Championship is taking place in Berlin from November 15 to 20. Eight best teams from all over the world battle for a share of $500,000. In the grand final, Shopify Rebellion will face G2 Gozen, who got there through the upper bracket.
