‘Valorant’ pro Sinatraa wants to “return to competitive play” after sexual abuse allegations

Last year, Valorant esports player Jay “Sinatraa” Won was suspended by Riot Games for “failing to fully cooperate” with an investigation into accusations of sexual assault.

However, yesterday (April 12) Sinatraa took to social media to say he was “ready for a return to competitive play.”

Sinatraa was a pro gamer and a member of Valorant team Sentinels when his ex-girlfriend Cleo Hernandez released a statement on Twitter detailing her relationship with him. In the lengthy post, Hernandez detailed multiple instances of alleged sexual assault, gaslighting, and mental and emotional abuse at the hands of Sinatraa alongside supporting evidence.

Within days, Sinatraa was temporarily suspended by Sentinels with Riot Games later handing out a six-month ban due to his failure to fully cooperate with the investigation.

Speaking about the decision Alex Francois, the Head of Competitive Operations for Valorant Esports said that while the investigation “did not come to a definitive conclusion”, the Competitive Operations team that was reviewing the case “had serious concerns with Sinatraa’s conduct during the course of the investigation.”

The ban expired in September but since then, Sinatraa hasn’t taken part in any professional tournaments.

However, yesterday (April 12) he took to Twitter to say “It’s been a year since I was forced to step back from competitive play. In that time, I have learned a lot about myself and grown as a person. I am now ready for a return to competitive play and will be starting tryouts this week.”

????

— Jay Won (@sinatraa) April 12, 2022

In another Tweet, he said his “first choice would be to return to Sentinels” with another user noticing Sentinels had started using Sinatraa’s image in videos again. Sinatraa replied to this observation with the side-eye emoji.

At the time of his ban, Riot Games also said Sinatraa would also have to “complete professional conduct training prior to being able to return to play”.

Earlier this month, IShowSpeed, a YouTube streamer with 6.9million followers, was permanently banned from every Riot Games title after footage of a misogynistic tirade was shared on social media.