Indian Caster Removed From Penta Pro Series Valorant Broadcast

May 18, 2023

On the first day of Penta Pro Series - Valorant, Indian Caster Umesh "Kripz" Kripalani's remarks about Indian Valorant players were accidentally broadcast on the official livestream of the tournament. Kripz had made some unsavory remarks about various professional Indian Valorant players and organizations which caused them to express their outrage on social media handles.

Following the incident, Penta Esports’ Head of Esports Kiran "ShaDesLaYeR" Noojibail issued a statement indicating that the organization doesn't support Kripz's views and that the latter will no longer be casting this event. In a statement to AFK Gaming, Penta Esports claimed that Kripz was intimated to mute his audio and failed to do so, which caused his comments to be unintentionally broadcast on stream. However, the caster denied having received such instructions from Penta Esports.

During a break in the Penta Pro Series - Valorant, Kripz was conversing with his casting partner Arjun "OGTheLowRezChicken" Ramesh about Indian Valorant players and teams in what he believed to be a private conversation. However, in the livestream, Kripz's mic was left unmuted, while OGTheLowRezChicken's mic was switched off, which caused a few parts of the exchange to be broadcast on the official stream. Kripz called God's Reign's Valorant team a "team of rejects'' and made some unsavory remarks about several pro players including Simar "Psy" Sethi, Saaransh "Whimp" Dang, and Aman "Hoax" Yadav.

He stated that Simar "Psy" Sethi caused every team he had ever been a part of to disband, and added that Vibhor "Vibhor" Vaid was kicked from Velocity Gaming. He also commented about Saaransh "Whimp" Dang stating, "Whimp is still in Revenant Esports, surprisingly. There is a rumor that Whimp might also get kicked out of Revenant Esports, because he is a useless player," adding that Whimp has not showcased impactful gameplay for a long time. Following this, he claimed that he heard the gossip of Whimp getting kicked from Revenant Esports from Raunak "Crowley" Sen (Pokemon Unite player in Revenant Esports). He also claimed that Aman "Hoax" Yadav was never considered seriously for any lineup.

After the incident came to light on social media, Kripz apologized to the players and teams he had dissed on his Twitter account. He stated that he talked in a crass way and did not mean to disrespect any of the players he mentioned.

Following this, Kiran "ShaDesLaYeR" Noojibail, head of esports at Penta Esports, apologized to everyone affected by the comments, stating that the organization doesn't support Kripz's views. He added that "as a disciplinary action," Kripz will not be a part of the event moving forward.

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The whole incident has surfaced due to an unintentional broadcast of Kripz's comments on the matter. In an email conversation with AFK Gaming, ShaDesLaYeR stated that the production team was facing some issues with the English broadcast during the first match of the Penta Pro Series - Valorant day 1. He said, "We noticed some frame drops and decided to switch to our backup pipeline during the break at the end of match 1. This solution was used to receive only the caster video and required the casters to mute the audio at their end which was conveyed to them. While the caster alongside Kripz had muted his audio, unfortunately, Kripz failed to do so and it went live on the broadcast."

When asked about this, Kripz denied this claim, stating that there was no such instruction communicated to him from the tournament organizer about having to mute his own audio.

"I sincerely apologise for using such language, regardless of whether it's on a private or public forum, streamed live or not. I will take steps to curb toxicity, both consciously and subconsciously," he said in a statement to AFK Gaming.