In a now deleted Twich clip from a stream on the night of May 21, former T1 coach Daniel “fRoD” Montaner alleged current T1 player Ha “Spyder” Jung-woo wanted to return to Korea after facing bullying from teammates. In the video, posted to Twitter by VLR.gg reporter Diogo Santos, fRoD said that Spyder went to T1 management three times and asked to return to his home country.
“fRoD says he had to calm Spyder daily because he’d be harassed. That harassment, from DaZeD and SKADOODLE (of all people), ed him to message management 3 times to go back to Korea,” Santos tweeted.
fRoD says he had to calm Spyder daily because he'd be harassed.
That harassment, from DaZeD and SKADOODLE (of all people), led him to message management 3 times to go back to Korea.https://t.co/66bxLcqbmf
— Diogo Santos (@Eutalyx) May 22, 2021
fRoD’s allegations of teammates bullying T1’s Spyder
“Every single day after practice I had to talk to Sypder and calm his mind because he didn’t comprehend why his IGL and his famous star Oper are f******* treating him like s***,” fRoD said in the clip. “Because in Korea people have respect for each other.”
He goes on to name current T1 players Sam “DaZeD” Marine and Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham as the two that allegedly bullied Spyder.
The former T1 coach left the organization in January of 2021, citing differences in opinion and ethics in running the team. Since then he coached the now shuttered beastcoast VALORANT dquad and is in the market for a new team. He is also a part of the new Dexerto VALORANT show, Curveball.
“Officially LFT, no longer with T1. Difference of ethics and opinions on how to run the team/org. Wish the players the best of luck. Interested in as a coach in valorant hmu or even to find out more info, DM’s are open, RT’s appreciated,” fRoD tweeted in January.
Officially LFT, no longer with T1. Difference of ethics and opinions on how to run the team/org. Wish the players the best of luck. Interested in me as a coach in valorant hmu or even to find out more info, DM’s are open, RT’s appreciated
— Danny Montaner (@OfficialfRoD) January 14, 2021
Spyder and DaZeD respond to bullying allegations
After the clip was shared on Reddit and Twitter, Spyder and his teammate DaZeD responded to the allegations. DaZeD took to Twitter and responded in one post while Spyder used Twitlonger to further explain what happened.
“Not really sure what to say, I definitely had to give criticism to saya [Spyder] and fix mistakes, and I also had to learn when to speak to him (any criticism or talk was done strictly during vod review and not during any live practice),” DaZeD wrote.
Not really sure what to say, I definitely had to give criticism to saya and fix mistakes, and I also had to learn when to speak to him (any criticism or talk was done strictly during vod review and not during any live practice)
— Sam M (@GODaZeD) May 22, 2021
He went further in another post an hour later.
“I think its really crumby to use someone as a pawn to create petty manufactured drama who never asked to be apart of any of this.” He said.
In Spyder’s own response, he said that he has no current issues with DaZeD or Skadoodle. The Duelist player elaborated that during that time he was new to the team and would argue with his teammates.
“Looking back on that time now, I can also fully admit that for some of those instances, I definitely overreacted as well because I was sensitive at the time,” Spyder wrote. “But afterwards, the team got together and talked our issues out. And now we understand each other a lot better, and we tried hard to make a comfortable environment for everyone.”
The three players see eye to eye now and are happy together, according to Spyder.
“Thank you all for your concern, but I promise you we’re all okay, and I’m sorry for any misunderstandings,” he said in the statement.
T1 is no stranger to controversy from their VALORANT team. Previously, the organization was under fire for employing a coach with a cheating ban in another esport title.
Both fRoD and T1 declined to comment to Upcomer.
