In an emotional statement earlier Monday in a Twitch stream, Katherine “LunarKats” So addressed the reasons why she was forced to separate from TSM over the weekend. She explained that it was due to 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 VALORANT list for women. 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 outburst I made in 2019, and I said really hurtful and insensitive things,” Lunarkats explained Monday during her stream. “I’m not trying to justify anything I said in the video. Everything I said was absolutely inexcusable and offensive …. After that Snapchat outburst, I completely stopped posting leases. If I look at it now, “I was so ashamed and very disappointed in myself. I made a mistake and it really hurt.”
She made it clear during the Q&A portion of the video that the Snapchat in question targeted fast food workers, though she did not give much more attention to it. She explained that she did not have the video to show since she removed Snapchat in 2019 after initially regretting the decision to post the video.
“I’m really sorry. I do not want the video to be a representation of 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 feel really ashamed.”
Through the tears, LunarKats thanked the esports community for ‘holding me accountable’ and saying she should be held accountable for her words. She admitted that she did not have the consequences of what she said at the time, because in 2019 she did not have many fans. Now she must ‘have the consequences’.
LunarKats also apologized to her team, which was forced to play with Ariananargist as their last replacement in this week’s matches.
“Honestly, it was not TSM’s fault at all,” she explained in her conversation 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 anyone using this video against me. But honestly, no matter what I do, this person can keep this video over my head. “That’s why I need to address it. It’s something I did and said.”
Based on her explanation, LunarKats was not 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 accusations of view.
These accusations were initially accepted by many as the reason why LunarKats separated from TSM, but it seems that the removal of the grid was due to the above Snapchat.
While many in the community were curious about removing LunarKats from the group, many fans of the sport mostly targeted TSM because they apparently bent the rules of the VALORANT Game Changers tournament by getting a sub so last minute.