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Valorant player Michael “dapr” Gulino who currently plays for Sentinels is receiving toxic messages and death threats in private messages recently. A lot of fans seem to be upset with the player and have taken to Twitter to directly harass the Sentinels player. Dapr said that some of the messages are very toxic towards not just the player but also towards his family. However, the player said that he is “indifferent” towards the messages and he does not let toxicity get to him. Earlier this month, it was alleged that 100 Thieves' duelist Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk also received death threats from Valorant fans.
Dapr’s response to toxic messages
Dapr revealed during a Twitch stream, “I got shit talked for such a long time now, I’m indifferent dude. If I showed you guys my DMs, I could show you like 20 screenshots I took of people saying they’ll like f***ing dismember my mother because I knifed Mixwell and shit. I’m so used to it now, it’s nothing to me.”
He went on to reveal that he gets such messages frequently but he seems to shrug them off. He said “that’s just life on the internet, dude, they’re anonymous but it’s just a thing that happens.”
Dapr is not the only player to receive death threats at Valorant Masters Berlin. 100 Thieves duelist Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk also received threats, possibly due to “taunting” Havan Liberty players at Valorant Masters Berlin. Online toxicity is a major issue and while fans have every right to be passionate about their favorite players or teams, disrespecting others and sending threats is uncalled for. People on the internet use their veil of anonymity to send threats to others, and online toxicity’s prevalence in esports definitely dampens its spirit.
Fans need to differentiate between banter and toxic behavior. For example, G2 Esports’ official Twitter account trash talked Sentinels during the Valorant Masters Berlin event and the team even hired a plane to say “F*** Sentinels” but it was all in good spirit. Sending threats can lead to legal consequences and esports organizations like T1 have taken legal action in the past due to toxicity shown towards their players.
