Solo Threatens to Withdraw From Epicenter Over Ceb

I would like to share my personal opinion on the situation that happened with Ceb yesterday and his apology that followed up a bit later.

Russian whores who would sell their mothers for MMR. That’s not the kind of stuff you say even if you get frustrated. Schizophrenic animals from Russia. Third world dogs.

You simply can’t say these things no matter what caused them. I am proud to be Russian and your words leave me speechless. You’re not some young player who can do careless stuff because he might not understand the consequences. You’ve been in this game since the very start, you’ve earned a lot of respect and it makes the situation even worse.

If the best players in the world do those things, what do we expect from our community? Kuku made his mistake and was banned for a far less insulting stuff, so if we really want to get rid of this racist shit in our game, I think it’s time for Valve to act. I was on vacation when Mind Control pulled his Hitler shit last year and did not react properly, so now we have another example. I’ve done my mistakes in the past and took my punishment, but kept loyal to the game. I think I’ve earned the right to speak on behalf of our community and demand justice. Otherwise it’s all hypocrisy and double standards.

I won’t be participating at the upcoming Epicenter Major that will be played in my home country unless Valve openly speaks about this case and ensures consistency and transparency when it comes to treating racism in our game.

One day wiser
First and foremost, I would like to apologize to those who have been offended by my stupidity. This obviously includes the Russian community, and more broadly the entire DotA community.



This is not about defending myself or justifying what I have written. I take full responsibility for that. I just want to apologize and say how ashamed I am to have given in to my emotions in this way. I would like to acknowledge my mistake here so that this type of act does not happen again.



Now that I have been able to distance myself a little bit from what happened, here is my reading of things. DotA is a wonderful game, which teaches you to cooperate with people from all over the world. Different cultures, nationalities, ages, sexes, etc. This is what makes our game so beautiful but also sometimes so difficult.

But you must never forget, and that's what I did that time, the passion. Passion before competition. Now, I got caught up in a conflict. I hope that this mistake will allow me, and all of us, to remember that we all share the same passion that drives us and that it is imperative to go beyond this type of events.



I am ashamed of my behaviour for two reasons. First of all because in any case, letting anger and emotions take over is never the right way to manage things. I obviously already knew this very well, because this is probably the first lesson you learn from competitive losses, and I have had many.

Secondly, I have become, whether I like it or not, a public figure. That makes me a role model in many ways. This gives me a responsibility to anyone who can listen to or admire my work. I am aware of this, I have the opportunity to inspire others and set an example. But the other day, not only did I offend many people, but I also let down those who believed in me. I am deeply sorry.



I would now like to turn to the words I used. I had to read them over and over again. Each of these occasions triggers the same shame and pain, really. The truth is that today, the Russian community is probably disappointed and angry at me, and I don't blame them. They react with pride and firmness. I expected nothing less from them. I have always been, not only respectful, but above all admiring the Russian culture. I would like you to know that I have been close to the Russian DotA community throughout my entire career, and I am grateful of all the amazing things I have been able to learn and experience thanks to it.

I am one of the few Western players to have played in tier 1 teams with many different CIS players. My first foreign tournaments were held in the CIS region, and to date I have participated in many competitions in Russia. I have always been very enthusiastic about giving back to the Russian community through interviews or any content creation. Because all I've gotten out of it so far is love, and I've always tried to give them that love back. I have changed my nickname to Cyrillic (OG.Себ), I sometimes promote Russian culture on my streams for those who follow them etc. Russia is one of the largest DotA countries, and as the biggest DotA fan, it has always been a pleasure to compete with or against Russian talent.



What I'm trying to get is that if I had been accused of harming a community or a nationality, I would have been hurt. But this one in particular leaves me devastated. I'm sorry for "betraying" your trust and respect, in a way. I hope that one day or another, with time and effort, I will be able to redeem myself with you and earn your forgiveness.



To do this, the first step for me will be to participate in a question and answer session with the Russian community itself.



It will take place live on the 26th at 12 am CET on RuHub.

It will be distributed at the following address

https://twitch.tv/dota2ruhub

Over the last 48 hours we’ve had detailed discussions with Seb and Valve about this whole situation. We’re working on a long-term solution together but it’ll obviously take some time. All I can say now is that I’m glad that everyone is on the same page about what we need to do, how we need to do it, and having support from Valve makes me optimistic about our ability to tackle racism. Right now we all need to calm down and focus on the new patch, upcoming tournaments and game we all love. We’ll update you when we finalize the solution for this.