Brandon"KingKaz" Cooper

One half of the DKGwelp podcast team co-host of my Photography

[Rob Moore @robmooreEsports]

Like and retweet this post and we’ll pick someone every hour to send swag to. But beware , sometimes if you are international your customs folks want to be paid. I can’t help that!!

[Brandon"KingKaz" Cooper @kingkaz]

@SpotisyOW @ValorINTEL a fresh account would have to play to lvl 20, then play ranked to have there placement games. Where as smurfing is internationally taking an account that is already placed in lower elo, and then giving it to someone, and a lot of the way people make those accounts are by throwing

[Brandon"KingKaz" Cooper @kingkaz]

@thelordnikon @hasanthehun Lol, I know I just thought it was funny.

[Brandon"KingKaz" Cooper @kingkaz]

@Della3tv @TenZOfficial There have been vods in other high level pro games forever, even in other riot games, and people can take streams, YouTube videos, or anything else to shit on someone for a bad games this doesn't really make it any worse.

[Brandon"KingKaz" Cooper @kingkaz]

@WWEonFOX Not till they put a belt on him

[VALORANT @VALORANT]

Celebrate Pride with the latest Rewards.

Reward Codes:
CC-VAL24-BETTR-2GTHR
CC-VAL24-HEART-BUDDY
CC-VAL24-PLAYR-CARDS

Redeem your items through June 25, 2024 here: https://t.co/HnjRkhoyOy

[Brandon"KingKaz" Cooper @kingkaz]

@Hanari502 Yes

[Brandon"KingKaz" Cooper @kingkaz]

@erikaishii That outfit is so good and amazing 🤩🤩🤩

[Brandon"KingKaz" Cooper @kingkaz]

@simplyjxn I'm down for the snacks

[Brandon"KingKaz" Cooper @kingkaz]

@Hanari502 Can't believe everything you read on the Internet 😂

[Erika Ishii @erikaishii]

Please @samreich please pleeeeaaaase PLEASE LET ME FIND AND EAT THINGS IN THE ALLEY BEHIND THE STUDIO WITH ALEXIS 😭🙏

[evil fujodyke @gatolletaz]

cool fucking website elon now u can doxx urself by default. anyway settings>privacy and safety>direct messages>disable calls if u dont want the world to see ur ip

[Brandon"KingKaz" Cooper @kingkaz]

@riotgames I keep getting stuck in your loading screen and getting disconnected from game randomly 😡😡😡😡

[SR meL @melanji]

For those of you who only want a few sentences, here it goes: I’ve been denied opportunities to trial for co-ed VALORANT teams with a handful of talented co-ed rosters over the years for reasons that include teams not wanting to pay a buyout for me and because I was viewed as, and I quote, “too valuable of an asset to release this close to partnership selection when I’m so pivotal to my org’s application.” There was at least one situation where I was being considered but it was soon communicated back to me from a T1 team that a player was not comfortable playing with a woman. I let it rest and have not spoken about it so as not to risk being viewed as a liability to other teams. I don’t know why this has resurfaced, but I feel like I have no choice other than to share this because I see people saying this could never happen and it's impossible. I also don’t want to be unfair to a lot of individuals who have had experienced something similar and deserve validation (rather than me taking this opportunity to pretend it didn’t happen now that it’s been shared publicly, albeit without my consent).

I was mortified when I woke up this morning to see my face plastered all over these articles. I’ve tried so hard to share my experiences with this process. I’ve also suggested ways that we can work with Riot and teams to improve GC players’ chances of playing on co-ed rosters. Even worse, I feel so embarrassed that pros and other peers are having to make statements to defend themselves because the masses are coming after them. I just want to play the game and grind to improve with my teammates. It’s so distracting. I didn't talk about this with anyone-- but now it feels like everyone thinks it's me making excuses for myself. Now it feels like it's my responsbility to act on this since my name was attached.

But, and of course this is anecdotal and specific to my experience: the VALORANT professional community has been incredibly supportive of me and my teammates. I would NEVER be where I am today without their support. The vast majority of men in the professional community advocate for me, make themselves available for advice, defend me in toxic ranked lobbies, vouch for me to their teams/other teams for opportunities, etc. I’ve never felt this kind of support from any other esport. I appreciate you all so much; you’ve been arguably the most important allies when it comes to helping drive GC along and making me feel welcome and like I belong here. I had a bad experience I did not feel like discussing out of fear that it would take away from future opportunities, but I will say this: I don’t believe that experience is in any way indicative of the kind of professional community we have here. Yes, sexism is apparent in esports. I would not be using my platform responsibly if I attempted to deny any bad faith actors or the stories of many other women who have shared their negative experiences in VALORANT and other esports.

Also, given this is a comment I see popping up everywhere today: I don’t think I “deserve” anything in VALORANT. Those who know me know I work hard each and every day. I’m thankful for my job and every opportunity I’m given through competing. Yes, I’m often heartbroken when opportunities to trial or potentially transfer to a co-ed team get scrapped for reasons outside of my control. It is my dream to play at the highest level. But there is a difference between being grateful for consideration (and thus disappointed when the chances didn’t work out) versus feeling like I inherently “deserve” to play in T1 or T2. All I can do is focus on improving as an individual and helping my teammates succeed.

It was already difficult to find opportunities at the next level. Now, all I can focus on is how teams may think twice about giving me a shot in the future because of comments I never made but will forever be associated with me nonetheless. I’m sorry to those of you who had to step up and defend yourselves. And I’m also sorry to Sean and Jena for having to deal with the fallout because it was discussed on Sean’s stream. Sean, I really appreciate the original context of what you were trying to say about me in that discussion. Thanks to everyone who knew I was stressed and checked on me today or commented in support. Now I’d really like to put this behind me and focus on GC3 with my team.

[Brandon"KingKaz" Cooper @kingkaz]

@GLACIULCINDER @MonsterEnergy That might be to much energy lol 🤣🤣

[Brandon"KingKaz" Cooper @kingkaz]

@Wulfegang Oh wow, hope you are feeling better.

[Brandon"KingKaz" Cooper @kingkaz]

Thinking about doing something fun on the internet later this week 😉.

[Myth @Myth_]

to anyone who has tweets remaining today, drop ur cashapp rq im tryna make some days better

[Brandon"KingKaz" Cooper @kingkaz]

@Hanari502 I hope you get better soon, drink lots and lots of water and juice.