Russian esports team Virtus.pro blames ESL suspension on 'cancel culture'
Russian esports team Virtus.pro says its suspension from ESL competition, announced earlier this week in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, is «a prime example of 'the cancel culture'.» It won't prevent its players from competing under a neutral name, however, a compromise allowed by ESL similar to the approach the International Olympic Committee took for Russia when it was discovered in 2015 that the country ran a state-sponsored doping program for athletes.
ESL, one of the world's largest and best-known esports organizers, announced on March 2 that it will not allow «organizations with apparent ties to the Russian government, including individuals or organizations under alleged or confirmed EU sanctions related to the [Ukrainian] conflict» to compete in its events. Two Russian esports teams were initially targeted for sanctions: Virtus.pro and Gambit.
Virtus.pro has now issued a statement in response to the ESL action, and it is clearly not pleased. «There are no rational reasons to suspend us from playing in tournaments, apart from prejudice and pressure from the outside,» the team said in a statement released today. «It happened in Dubai with a WePlay event, and it keeps on happening.»
Addressing ESL Pro League statement on https://t.co/RghpmPyTHr. pic.twitter.com/sfNliB4rGUMarch 4, 2022
The Dubai WePlay event in question is the Gamers Galaxy: Dota 2 Invitational Series Dubai, which reportedly asked Virtus.pro to play without its tag, jersey, and «affiliation to any particular club or country.» In a statement released on March 1, one day before the tournament began, Virtus.pro refused the offer, saying it would «not fall for this intimidation.» According to a Yahoo! News report, the team was subsequently
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