Sentinels Valorant Star zekken apologizes to fans after mistranslation led to hate comments

Sentinels Valorant player Zachary ‘zekken’ Patrone took to social media to apologize after receiving backlash from Chinese fans for a mistranslated clip from his stream where he referred to himself as a “China hater.”

The clip in question was taken from a May 27 stream, during which zekken made his predictions for the bracket stage of VCT Masters Shanghai in a pick’em format.

The Sentinels player expressed their dislike for Chinese teams by closely watching the first-round game between EDward Gaming and Team Heretics, exclaiming, “I am not a fan of China. Darn it, I got Heretics.”

This statement quickly circulated on Chinese social media, with fans misunderstanding zekken’s words and believing that he expressed hatred towards the country and its people.

A large number of individuals visited his Twitter/X page and posted disturbing comments on his latest post. They also shared images of the professional’s face superimposed over a monkey or referred to him as “bobo.”

Your mouth is as bad as your origin

— Ellen (@NSX721) May 28, 2024

According to a machine translation, a social media user commented, “Your mouth is just as offensive as your background.”

The player’s agent, along with Valorant esports enthusiasts on the game’s subreddit, were prompt in correcting the record following the video’s widespread popularity.

“To clarify, the comments made by zekken on stream were specifically about the “Chinese VCT League”(VCT CN) and not intended to target China as a country or its people. We apologize if there was any misinterpretation and want to make it clear that it was a cultural/translation issue. As stated by Jérôme Coupez, the CEO of esports agency Prodigy, zekken’s use of the term “Hater”simply meant that he doubted the success of the VCT CN Region in upcoming matches or the Masters, based on their previous results and nothing more.”

The Twitch stream where he referred to himself as a “China hater”has been taken down from his channel.

On May 28, zekken issued a public apology on social media, addressing any fans he may have unintentionally offended and providing a detailed explanation of his comment.

During my stream yesterday, I made predictions and stated “I’m a China hater”after choosing heretics over EDG. I want to clarify that I had no intention of being racist. To put it simply, I was expressing my lack of confidence in VCT CN for this particular tournament. I want to make it clear that I hold no animosity towards China or any of its players.

“I am aware that my words may have been interpreted as hostile when translated. I want to apologize to anyone who may have taken it that way, as it was never my intention when I said it.”

Many X users commended zekken for tackling the issue and also stated that the controversy was not his responsibility.

“Sometimes things can get lost in translation, man. I hope they understand that there was no malicious intent behind it,”one social media user commented.