FNS calls out Riot for hypocrisy over Valorant fines and production “disrespect”

Former NRG Esports Valorant pro Pujan ‘FNS’ Mehta called out the Valorant Champions Tour production for poking fun at players while pros are fined for doing the same on stage.

Valorant esports can have pretty light-hearted and fun broadcasts across the VCT leagues and LAN events. Riot Games production has set up mock game shows, power ranking segments, and interview pieces to make the broadcast appealing to a wide audience.

However, those running the show can sometimes inadvertently add to the daily disrespect some pro players regularly experience. Players who similarly disrespect each other on stage, either to rile up their opponents or cause some kind of fan reaction, are often met with a fine from Riot.

In a co-stream of the VCT EMEA broadcast on April 25, FNS, who has dealt with this as a pro-turned-streamer, explained the dynamic as hypocritical on Riot’s end.

“How are you going to fine people for teabagging and shooting bodies and cursing at the other team when you are in the zone, and then allow production to blatantly disrespect players by showing weird stats… like what they did with Max ‘Demon1’ Mazanov and Victor ‘Victor’ Wong to compare the two for no reason whatsoever… and they do it with other games as well. And yet when people shoot bodies and teabag they throw a fit,” FNS said.

FNS did say there are non-disrespectful ways for the league’s broadcast to poke fun at pros and pointed to a recent segment that made fun of the NRG team he was on last year.

Valorant pros have a history of incurring fines and warnings for inappropriate in-game actions, like teabagging and performing explicit hand gestures, as Riot doesn’t want to be seen condoning such behavior.

The people putting on the broadcast and hosting the match days know that riling up the crowd, as well as pros trash-talking each other, can make for an entertaining show. But the practice can leave a bad taste in people’s mouths when the game’s developer turns around to only directly discourage the behavior from pros.

Valorant esports fans seem to think FNS has a point and agree that Riot isn’t acting consistently in this respect.