Update 2/23/2021: In comments on stream Wednesday, JasonR publicly defended the practice of ignoring all women, arguing it's not sexist to treat women differently simply because they are women, since it is what his wife wants him to do.

Original article: VALORANT streamer and content creator Jason “JasonR” Ruchelski is facing new allegations of sexism from numerous VALORANT players this week, who say that the streamer mutes women players in competitive lobbies and on occasion leaves games during the selection screen to avoid playing with women players. Multiple members of Cloud9 White, as well as Sentinels ShahZam, have supported the claim that JasonR has a practice of avoiding women on the ladder.

The accusations against JasonR mirror the stance that Ninja has, where he openly refuses to play with women because he is married, a stance that has been condemned as sexist by many individuals in the esports and gaming space. JasonR has denied dodging and muting women in a clip released on Tuesday, arguing that his computer just happens to crash a lot.

JasonR accused of sexism for allegedly dodging and muting women in VALORANT

Shopify Rebels player panini started the conversation about JasonR's alleged sexism on Sunday, and has since garnered significant support from other VALORANT influencers for her claims against JasonR from various men and women in the community.

"When are we gonna talk about that one big streamer that mutes every girl in his ranked games?" she cryptically asked on Sunday in a Tweet. In the replies to that Tweet, someone posted a clip from Sen SicK's stream, showing JasonR allegedly "dodging" after hearing a woman speak in the pre-game selection stream. Dodging is when a player leaves the game before it starts to avoid playing with a particular team or teammate.

VALORANT player for Complexity Aniemal confirmed that it was her in the lobby with SicK where JasonR "crashed" or allegedly dodged. Aniemal said: "[that] was me :'( I was actually excited to play with SicK but all good I guess. if JasonRuchelski's relationship is the reason why he's dodging women, I don't really care. if he's dodging bc he hates women then that's just weird."

In response to that comment, Panini replied: "Honestly, if the relationship was that restricting I'd be concerned for Jason, but there have been clips of him simply bashing women so it seems more like something him and his wife share in common."

In response to this thread, C9 White player Annie Dro posted a quote retweet, alleging that: "50+ women have experienced the Jason R effect. He will full screen his cam so you don’t see, then mute/dc if there is a girl on his team. He is manipulating his audience and gaslighting them by saying he crashed every time. Refuses to address any allegations as well."

She continued in a follow up: "Everyone is “jealous of my sub count” and a clout chaser in his eyes if they talk about this. Then says how much this is affecting him and his wife, making them cry, which makes people gift more subs. Wish he had the balls to say “yeah I mute women”, but he lies and gaslights."

Panini followed up her original comments on Monday, saying: "not only does jasonr mute women he gets on his team if they don't talk in agent select, he'll do the honors of dodging games or pretending his internet goes out to simply not queue with women. who's holding him accountable for this? lmao. the people who queue w him are real quiet😅"

Sentinels IGL ShahZam also confirmed that he has observed JasonR muting and dodging women in VALORANT. ShahZam said  on stream, "he just insta mutes any girl on his team in ranked, or he dodges the game if there is a girl on his team. That is not talking shit, I am just saying that is weird behavior to me, and that's not okay."

This is not the first time JasonR has come under fire for alleged instances of sexism.

In 2018, he was accused of banning subscribers from his Twitch channel on the basis of them being female, with multiple women with female Twitch names reporting that they were banned by his girlfriend or himself. JasonR denied these claims at the time. He also reportedly once said in a now-deleted clip, "I f*cking ban these hoes... Every single girl on Twitch is a little f*cking hoe" a comment that many predictably interpreted as sexist and reportedly led to a temporary Twitch ban.

The Esports community grapples with the exclusion of women

The allegations against JasonR mirror the statements that Tyler "Ninja" Blevins has made in the past, where he refuses to ever play with women because he has a wife, and doesn't want to be misconstrued as flirting with them. Ninja has received backlash for this stance, with many pointing out that this would be an unacceptable standard in any other professional environment and is the very definition of sexist exclusion.

This week's discussion of JasonR's alleged sexist activities sparked a wider conversation about the exclusion of women in high-level gaming spaces. C9 White player Kat chimed in, saying "hard to feel respected as a player seeing so many people say it should be ok to mute every woman you interact with because you have a girlfriend."

Other women VALORANT players also weighed in. DIG Rain said: "This behavior is so f*cking disgusting. Do you not realize women play games for fun (just like men, who would have thought 🤪)"

She continued by calling out Riot for elevating JasonR, saying, "this is who you let co-stream your biggest events? yikes. @PlayVALORANT @RiotSuperCakes"

OpTic Yay stated on Twitter: "You can have all the talent in the world on a team but if there's a lack of respect for each other, it'll eventually cause a split." It is possible he was referring to the 100 Thieves situation, however, either way, the comment still applies, since it is about respecting others in VALORANT.

Pokimane said: "Years ago I was so COPIUM that I thought 'people can choose to play with whoever they want, it’s up to them!' In reality, it’s blatant sexism, and internalized misogyny on the partner’s end. Shoutout to the people calling it out as such 👍🏻"

George Geddes also spoke up too, saying: "This has been his normalized behavior for years, people accused him of literally banning women because they were women. Jason, of course, denied the allegation at the time."

The entire situation surrounding JasonR and the broader treatment of women in VALORANT shows that the esports community still has a long way to go when it comes to accepting and supporting high-level female and women players. While organizations like Riot Games have created women-focused esports leagues like Game Changers, on the actual competitive ladder women continue to face discrimination, harassment, and exclusion from team communication, which in the process makes it more difficult for them to win, improve, and make a name for themselves.

The Warzone community has also faced a similar reckoning in recent months, after ClutchBelk made numerous sexist comments about NYSL Swish and other female streamers. While esports has more women competing now than it has in the past, the struggle for acceptance and respect continues so long as there are streamers and players refusing to acknowledge, play with, or respect other players simply because they are women.