Former Fnatic player Leo ‘Leo’ Jannesson and streamer Ardis ‘ardiis’ Svarenieks have come under fire from the Valorant community for alleged ‘transphobic comments’ during ardiis’s Game Changers co-streams.
Comments by the pair have drawn criticism towards Riot Games for allowing the streamer to co-stream Game Changers, and towards esports organization NAVI, where ardiis is an official co-streamer.
Ardiis and Leo comments
The controversy stemmed from a Valorant Game Changers co-stream hosted by ardiss, where the pair referred to certain players as “Bumblebees,” seemingly based on whether they were perceived as born female.
The comment appears to be a play on the transphobic slur of “transformers” to refer to transgender people, with Bumblebee referring to one of the most notable and popular characters in the Transformers franchise.
Ardiis continued on the stream, “I don’t want to get banned, but we need a nickname for them, bro,” seemingly referring to non-assigned-female-at-birth players, later joking that he might change genders to play in the Game Changers League.
For context, Game Changers is not currently an exclusive esports league for women or those who identify as women.
Instead, regarding “Player Gender,” the Valorant Game Changers 2026 Rulebook states, “All players on a Team’s Roster must be persons that identify as women or gender diverse.”
Riot’s rulebook establishes the Game Changers League as competition, “aimed at creating new opportunities and exposure for women and other marginalized genders within VALORANT esports.”
Comments call on Riot Games and NAVI to act following “transphobia”
The comments led to reactions on social media calling on Riot Games to ban ardiis and Leo from co-streaming Game Changers due to “blatantly transphobic” language used on the stream.
Esports organization Natus Vincere (NAVI) also came under fire for retaining their relationship with ardiis, with one user stating, “Here’s my take: orgs like NAVI need to hold their creators accountable; I cannot fathom if a player in NA made comments like this daily on stream and was somehow still employed.”
Following social media outrage, on his next stream ardiis doubled down on his comments, stating, “Chat, do you know how many women have messaged me saying ‘I can’t go public, but thank you’?… minimum five.” Adding, “I’m the only one putting eyes on the Game Changers scene.”
The streamer then claimed to watch more Game Changers games than notable Valorant host and co-streamer, Yinsu ‘Yinsu’ Collins.
Do you think that Riot Games and NAVI should act on the comments? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord.
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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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