The Trump Themed Signs at the DotA 2 International 6

Who am I? I'm the racist bigot that made the signs. So let me give you my honest perspective. I've read some of the discussion on the original thread on reddit. Since my threads are being blocked you can read about it here:

I'm sorry I insulted people on the basis of race

You should know I myself am not even American. I hail from Canada so no authentic post could begin without an apology. My #TacoTacoBurrito tagline was definitely over the top. In no way does it accurately portray anyone of South American, Mexican or Hispanic descent (or any other). This comment is often thrown around in game in jest. It's an outflow of the frustration of a person who has played more dota than any other game in his life and has crafted habits of communication which are greatly undermined by language barriers.

Believe me as a Canadian I hear similar flack we get. Are we dumb enough to believe it? No. But laughing about cultural differences is funny and when you engage on what is accurate and what is not it then becomes enlightening as well.

I have no political affiliation or even real understanding of American politics

The Trump connection was meant to be a pun based on the absurd (from my perspective) view that Trump building a wall would solve American challenges with illegal immigration. I do not know who is portrayed as bigotted and not in American politics so I hope Trump wouldn't take offense. I honestly hope he has better things to worry about.

I did it to be funny and get people to laugh

My taste of humor may not appeal to everyone but that's okay. I don't like every show or agree with every idea broadcast by my neighbours to the south (note the Canadian spelling) That's the cool thing about free speech though. You're able to have your own oppinion and voice it.

I didn't realize it would be so contentious but I'm glad it is

Valve has made three times the tournament prizes in ticket sales and far more in items. When you start to consider that lines Valve's coffers with enough money to directly solve the problem of language barriers and has consistently dropped the ball you should be a bit miffed. If I play several games in a row with people that speak the same language but not the only one I know then it stands to reason Valve can group them together on one team. Since hitting my MMR it takes 5 - 10 minutes to find a game.

Valve's current solution? Report options which include Communication Abuse (which has NOTHING to do with being foreign or speaking a different language). Valve has taken my time and recieved my passion and money but has failed to tackle this issue.

They deserve to be called out on it. They can improve the community WITH our help but it should be done in meaningful ways.

I would love to engage Valve in discussion directly if they so choose

For the commentators that feel sleighted for my faux pas I am indeed sorry. I also recognize that they need to vouch for the community and are representing Valve as well as our community. I don't want to make their jobs hard and I truly value their contributions. For their sake I am sorry.

What really happened?

Well it's simple. I took the break between games to make the signs. I wasn't able to get them on screen until the end so it was during the Grand Finals. I distributed the signs and even though I was discouraged from doing so, did it anyway.

There were three signs which read as follows:

1. Make America Great Again
2. Let's Build a Firewall
3. US Servers for English Speakers #TacoTacoBurrito

Obviously people took offense. One gentleman asked me to "Hold up the sign with the US Servers for English" before throwing his soda on it.

I'll give him this; he had good aim. I don't fault him for it and I don't need an apology. Why? He did nothing wrong. He was polarized to speak out in an active way on behalf of our community which he was so passionate about. It's just soda guys and girls.

After the incident one of the staff (maybe a stage manager) indicated that the sign was insensitive and said if I continued my sign would be taken away (or maybe I would be ejected).

This too is a fair response. You see when someone disrupts a televised event and offends people you need to respond in a way to show you value and defend the commmunity.

If you care about it enough you'd do something about it

There are no enemies folks. We are definitely a different tribe. The majority of us relate to each other in ways no non-DotA-enthusiast could ever understand. What do we have in common? Our passion for a collaborative E-Sport where our skills in communication and problem solving are tested by the clock and an opponent. A community where the lore and content developed are celebrated in art and music, digitally rendered, hand crafted with care and intent.

You should be strongly oppinionated about it. You should tell everyone why it's better than LOL; why you invest time and money into it; why you travel huge distances to be part of it. Free to play my a$$. I've spent so much on the game and will continue to do so in the future.

If you share my oppinion tell GabeN. If you disagree then you should tell GabeN. If you don't care well then maybe you should go play LOL.

Once again sorry to those I have offended on the basis or race. I have spoken to many a person whose first language is not English. Some even agree with me. Some don't. For those I have dissappointed in that regard I do apologize.

Cheers everyone!

UPDATE:

Well some people are uncertain this wasn't me so here's a pic from TI that I'll use as my profile on here.

I'm not here to troll - I quite think that the opportunity affords some discussion. Obviously I have no intention of divulging my identity beyond this but I don't want what I have to say be misinterpretted or altogether missed.

I've recieved numerous messages of support and condemnation. Some people really think I took credit for a South Park reference with the #TacoTacoBurrito bit. Others love what I did. I will reiterate it was in distaste. But I've apologized for it so I won't flog that horse cause it's lying on the floor mangled to sh** now.

That said the reality is it's right in front of Valve's face right now. They can either decide to setup rules and the arrange their commentator areas to avoid such incidents in the future and/or they can actually respond to the issue presented in albeit an inappropriate manner but in a meaningful way.

The ball is in their court for now.

Cheers all!