In an emotional statement on a Twitch stream earlier on Monday, Katherine “LunarKats” So elaborated on the reasons she was forced to part ways from TSM this weekend. She explained that it was because of a Snapchat she made in 2019 in which she said insulting and hurtful things about fast food workers.
TSM released the professional VALORANT player and streamer on Saturday, just three days after announcing her as part of their new all-female VALORANT roster. She would participate in the VCT Game Changers Series that started this week before being removed from the team.
“There’s a video of a Snapchat rant I did in 2019, and I said some really hurtful and insensitive things,” Lunarkats explained during her stream on Monday. “I’m not trying to justify anything I said in the video. Everything I said was absolutely unforgivable and insulting … After that Snapchat rant, I stopped posting rants altogether. Looking back on it, I’m so embarrassed and so embarrassed. “I am very disappointed. in myself. I made a mistake and it was a really painful one.”
She clarified during the Q&A portion of the video that the Snapchat in question was aimed at fast food workers, although she didn’t provide much further details. She explained that she didn’t have the video to show as she removed the Snapchat in 2019 after initially regretting the decision to post the video.
“I’m sincerely sorry. I don’t want that video to reflect who I am because I really am not,” she said in her apology. “I want to be a better person, and my stream and friends have pushed me to be a better person, and I’m really ashamed.”
Through tears, LunarKats thanked the esports community for “holding me accountable,” expressing that she should be held accountable for her words. She admitted that she didn’t feel the consequences of what she said then, as she didn’t have many followers in 2019. Now she has to “bear the consequences.”
LunarKats also apologized to her team, which was forced to play with Ariananarchist as their last minute replacement in this week’s games.
“To be honest, it wasn’t TSM’s fault at all,” she clarified in her chat in response to people saying negative things about the organization that cut her. “They approached me with the video and it was a mutual decision. They really wanted to protect me from someone using this video against me. But honestly, whatever I do, this person can keep this video above my head, so I have to to deal with it. It’s something that I did and said. “
Based on her explanation, LunarKats has not been removed due to the allegations made by Halei Raeanna, a content creator for SoaR. In Twitlonger, Raeanna accused LunarKats of harassing her in DMs and online with allegations of view botting.
These allegations were initially believed by many to be the reason LunarKats parted ways with TSM, but it appears that the removal from the roster was due to the aforementioned Snapchat.
While many in the community were curious about LunarKats being removed from the squad so quickly, many esports fans focused on TSM as it seemed to bend the rules of the VALORANT Game Changers tournament by giving it a last minute sub.