Riot Games has announced the suspension of Ardis ‘ardiis’ Svarenieks following “the use of discriminatory and offensive language” during ardiis’ co-streaming of VCT Game Changers.
Alongside former Fnatic player Leo ‘Leo’ Jannesson, ardiis made several comments on the co-stream which were condemned as transphobic by members of the Valorant community.
Riot Games suspends ardiis after transphobia controversy
Riot Games has announced the suspension of ardiis after comments made on the NAVI-affiliated co-streamer’s broadcast of the GIANTX GC vs Barca eSports GC rosters in VCT 2026: Game Changers EMEA Stage 3.
The comments seemingly labelled all players who were not assigned female at birth as “bumblebees,” a semantic link to the transphobic slur ‘transformers.’
The comments saw social media condemnation of not only ardiis and Leo, but of Riot Games and ardiis’ org NAVI, for enabling the streamer’s behaviour.
Following backlash in the community, Riot announced disciplinary action against the streamer, suspending the streamer from the right to co-stream any VCT competition through August 19, 2026.
Riot’s statement is as follows:
“CO-STREAMING RULING
Ardis “Ardiis” Svarenieks violated Riot Games’ Terms of Service through the use of discriminatory and offensive language during a co-stream.
Riot Games does not tolerate discriminatory conduct or language of any kind, including conduct targeting an individual’s race, ethnicity, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, religion, nationality, or any other protected characteristic.
Consequently, Ardis “Ardiis” Svarenieks is suspended from co-streaming all VCT competitions, effective immediately through August 19, 2026. Any future violations may result in additional disciplinary action, up to and including permanent loss of rights to co-stream VCT.”
Following the announcement, esports organization Natus Vincere, for which ardiis was a content creator, made the following announcement:
“We respect and fully support Riot Games’ decision. There is a line that should never be crossed, and discriminatory conduct or language of any kind should never be tolerated. Effective immediately, NAVI is suspending its cooperation with Ardiis.”
It is unclear at this time if the relationship will resume after the lapse of ardiis’ VCT suspension.
Social media users question ardiis suspension
The announcement has immediately been met with criticism for the leniency of the ban’s timeframe, with one user commenting “So you gave him a vacation,” in reference to the one-month length of the ban.
The ban lapses the day before VCT EMEA Stage 2 Playoffs are secheduled to begin on August 20, with some social media users believing it to be a cynical decision from Riot.
Another user replied, “One month? Are we so for real? After continuing to joke about while on stream AFTER his “apology” tweet (which his chat essentially wrote by the way) This does nothing…”
The questionable nature of ardiis’ public apology was another matter of discontent on social media, as ardiis wrote the apology on stream, while at the same time questioning why he should apologize.
The full context of ardiis’ social media apology can be found here.
Do you think that Riot Games and NAVI responded appropriately? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord.
For more Valorant coverage, see our VCT Stage 2 Week 1 Global Round Up. And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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