Update 2/24/2022:  JasonR released a more complete, scripted statement on Thursday, in which he denied ever being sexist and argued that his comments such as calling women on Twitch 'hoes' are being taken out of context. He further claimed that ShahZam lied about him dodging him and his girlfriend, claiming that his computer crashed. He also claimed that the Tweets against him are from his 'haters' and that he has done nothing wrong. He did not address accusations that he mutes women in VALORANT games.

Original Article: JasonR responded to the ongoing backlash against him after numerous VALORANT influencers called him sexist this week and accused him of muting and dodging women players in VALORANT matches. In comments he made on Wednesday,  he defended his decision to ignore all women and asked how he could disrespect women when he refuses to talk to them, before saying he doesn't support sexism or misogyny. 

In response to a comment that said "stop disrespecting women" the streamer said: "How do I disrespect women? I don't talk to them. How do I disrespect women? Sorry, I didn't know that not interacting with them is disrespecting them. My bad, is this some sort of new shit, that you f*cking p*ss*es cry about."

He then went on to say: "I do not support misogyny, I do not support sexism, and I do not support being rude to my wife for absolutely no reason" before telling his mods to ban anyone who criticizes him in the chat. Here he confirmed that his justification for excluding, muting, and ignoring all women is because he sees speaking with a woman as disrespectful to his wife, a stance that Ninja also holds and has been widely criticized for.

His Wednesday response comes a day after his previous claims that he doesn't dodge women in games, his computer just crashes a lot. In light of the backlash, many have also pointed out the sexist comments he has made in the past, including calling all women on Twitch "little hoes" and allegedly actively banning women from his Twitch chat a few years ago.

Based on his comments Wednesday, JasonR legitimately thinks that excluding women purely on the basis of their gender is not an example of disrespect toward women, even sarcastically making fun of the idea that refusing to speak with women is sexist in his on-stream comments. However, a large group of VALORANT players and influencers, including ShahZam, Pokimane, Panini, Aniemal, C9 Kat, C9 Mel, and DIG Rain, have been vocal this week about their belief that this is a clear example of sexism, since it is JasonR treating people differently purely based on their sex.

Notably, Twitch star and high-level VALORANT streamer Pokimane reacted to his argument that he is just respecting his wife and is therefore not a sexist. Poki stated: "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 👍🏻"

On the other side, there has been a contingent of the esports community defending the notion that it is acceptable to ignore all women, so long as your wife tells you to. In the comment section under Pokimane's post, for example, numerous people defended the idea that there is nothing wrong with ignoring women so long as you don't harass them, thereby attempting to justify why the exclusion of women from gaming is okay.

The entire drama is part of an ongoing reckoning in VALORANT, and esports generally, with active exclusion of women from competitive and gaming spaces.

Since VALORANT's release, countless women have reported harassment and exclusion on the competitive ladder, something that is common in many competitive games like Overwatch, Call of Duty, and more. While many industries reject the notion that it is acceptable to treat women worse than men, or that is it acceptable to ignore an entire gender of people at work, at least some portion of the esports community appears to still believe that it is morally justifiable to treat women differently simply because of their gender.