S8UL Esports Cuts Ties With Skyesports After CEO’s Controversial Tweets

Skyesports founder and CEO, Shiva Nandy, found himself embroiled in a social media controversy after he made a tweet earlier today that received widespread backlash. The tweet featured an image from Game of Thrones which read "South will remain an independent kingdom," leading to a flurry of adverse reactions towards Nandy, with many questioning his intentions and motives.

This Tweet was posted after the announcement of the state election results in Karnataka, where the Indian National Congress (INC) is poised to beat the current ruling party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). As per the Election Commission's website, the Congress party is leading in or has secured more than 136 out of the 224 state assembly seats. A simple majority of 113 seats is needed to form a government independently.

S8UL Esports co-founder Lokesh "Goldy" Jain responded to Nandy’s Tweets by claiming that his organization will no longer be involved with any of Skyesports’ events or activities. Nandy has since deleted his original Tweet and provided an explanation for why he did so. He claimed that "Some people don’t understand and they will use the situation to mislead for their own advantage." 

S8UL Co-Founder Goldy announces S8UL Esports will no longer participate in Skyesports events

Jain also weighed in on the controversy. His tweet read, "Sometimes I wonder if a person forgets their stature, influence, and persona on their audience and the industry before venting on the internet. Holding onto a 1946 mentality in 2023 will be problematic, bro INDIA IS ONE PROUD NATION!"

Nandy responded by accusing Goldy of attempting to mislead audiences for his own benefit. The Skyesports founder went on to explain that his earlier tweet was not meant to suggest that South India was a separate country but rather to highlight the distinct identities and cultural differences that exist within India. He emphasized that he is a proud Indian with a Dravidian ideology and that India is a highly democratic country with different states and ideologies.

He also added, “It's clearly understood this is how you have always misled your followers by making small things bigger. Next time try to have the same stature which you are talking about.”

Following this, Jain questioned why Nandy had deleted his original Tweet and stated that his organization and creators would no longer be associated with Skyesports. 

S8UL Sid responds to Nandy’s call-out

S8UL Esports manager and content creator Sid Joshi had also joined the conversation on Twitter by sub-tweeting about Nandy's post, suggesting that some people should not be allowed to have Twitter accounts. 

When Nandy responded to Joshi's comment, Joshi asked why Nandy had deleted his initial tweet and accused him of guilt. "How come you deleted your tweet though? There were 30 other people on there who felt the same thing me and goldy bhai felt when we read your tweet and what it implied,” he said.

Nandy explained that he deleted the tweet because he felt that Goldy was trying to mislead others from his original message, and that if he truly believed that his tweet was hurtful, he would apologize. “If it was wrong, I would apologize if (I) truly believe it hurts. But my personal view is not material for you to mislead and take the opportunity to be relevant. Why (are) you and your so-called boss connecting gaming/esports into this?” he added.

Joshi responded by disputing Nandy's accusations, claiming that he was more popular than Skyesports’ last tournament, while asking him to "please speak a little calmly."

Joshi also went on to question Nandy’s claims of misleading his audience in a follow up Tweet. 

S8ul co-founder Animesh "Thug" Agarwal backed up Jain in a tweet that stated "When in delusion, people forget everything! @8bit__goldy Hi real BOSS ! 😎"

In response, Nandy expressed his disappointment and clarified that he was talking about the current political situation, not the country as a whole. Sid then responded to Nandy's tweet, asking him to choose his words wisely and show some respect. 

AFK Gaming reached out to S8UL Esports which has declined to comment on the matter. We have also reached out to Skyesports for comments and will update this story if and when we receive a response.