The VALORANT esports community was left a bit shocked when star player Jordan ‘Zellsis‘ Montemurro left Sentinels late last week.
At the time, Zellsis simply put that he was grateful for his time at Sentinels, ‘the happy times, the sad times, the angry times,’ but he has since opened up a bit more about his decision to leave the organisation after two impactful seasons.
Zellsis Blames Hateful Messages From Sentinels Fans For Leaving the Team
While Zellsis’ farewell tweet was quite positive, sharing on X that he was ‘glad it all happened’ even if it didn’t end how everyone hoped, he has since opened up about one of the concerning reasons he left the team.
On stream, Zellsis explained that part of his decision to leave was the Sentinels fanbase.
“I don’t know if I can strictly say the Sentinels fanbase, but the public overall, “he added. “Because I don’t care if you guys make fun of my looks, make fun of how I play… I don’t care about any of that.
“But over the last month or so, not only me but my family as well has gotten messages from people online. And that was a big factor for why I left Sentinels.”
According to Zellsis, he was getting sick of the hate he got online — including death threats — which also started to be sent to his family as well. While he expected it in response to some political tweets he had shared, Zellsis felt that it had gone beyond trolling and crossed his line.
“I felt me being off Sentinels would stop some of that,” he concluded.
Zellsis told his fans that the harassment and hateful messages were not the only reasons he left Sentinels, but it had definitely played a huge part. On Reddit, the VALORANT community responded with growing concern for how some esports fanbases behave, noting different times that Zellsis received a lot of hate from Sentinels’ fans.
So far, Zellsis has not announced where he will be competing next. It’s been a pretty active off-season for VALORANT, with Gen.G opening player recruitment and Team Secret sharing its new roster.
