Professional Dota 2 player Carlo “Kuku” Palad has been banned from the upcoming Dota 2 Chongqing Major. This punishment comes as a result of Kuku’s racists comments made in-game.
On 3 November, Carlo “Kuku” Palad, the 22 year old Dota 2 pro who plays for Philippine team TNC Predator, typed the words “ching chong” in chat during a pub game. The incident blew up with Chinese fans demanding Palad to be punished.
Chinese fans began to review bomb the Steam page for Dota 2, calling on Valve to take action against Pallad. Si bei jia lat sia. Valve responded that they did not tolerate racism but called on teams to enforce values and hold their players accountable. Appropriately vague as Valve always is.
TNC then decided to dock 50 per cent of Palad’s earnings from the Kuala Lumpur Major and donated half a month’s salary from the team manager to an anti-racism organization. Seems like a mild slap on the wrist to me sia.
On 2 December, TNC claimed on Twitter that it had been told by the tournament organizers that Chinese authorities were threatening to cancel the event, or potentially not let Palad into the country.
TNC said it was “mulling our options” and could pull out of the tournament. “TNC and Kuku fully understand the gravity of the mistakes committed, which is why we have exhausted every avenue to talk with all parties involved, especially the aggrieved,” said TNC.
It is a huge mess. And finally on 3 December, Valve stepped in and made its intentions clear. Palad would be banned from the Chongqing Major and TNC would be docked 20 per cent of its Pro Circuit Points. Big oof.
