German e-sports organization GamerLegion signed 5 women on September 23 to join a team in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO, now Counter-Strike 2): A 20-year-old Irish woman was fired on September 25 for making racist comments. A 22-year-old Dutch woman now left herself on September 26 after allegations surfaced: The person had been convicted of being a cheater and had “only become a woman to keep playing CS:GO.”
Who did GamerLegion sign up?
- The team had recruited 5 women who had played for Astralis W in May 2023 and then went under the name “Let Her Cook”.
- The plan was for the women to compete as “GL Prism” for GamerLegion in the Impact League.
- But after only 2 days, GamerLegion had to dismiss one of the women, 20-year-old Irish KittyTM, without notice because chat messages had surfaced in which she had made racist comments.
Second woman leaves team only 3 days after hire
This is now the new development: A second of the new players also left GamerLegion already on September 26: 22-year-old Luna “ManeschijnX'” Akkermans. She had won the IESF Women’s World Championship in September with Netherlands fe, a prize that comes with $40,000.
Former CS:GO professional player Esmee Pauw (25, also Netherlands) had allegations made against her on Twitter that ManeschijnX had hacked under the name “Bentas” and had been banned from FACEIT and in other Benelux events.
Ex-E athlete accuses player of identifying as female only to continue playing CS:GO
Pauw says the player changed her gender and “became a woman” to play in a women’s league so she could continue playing professional CS:GO. Further, Pauw says Bentas has made openly trans-hostile comments on Steam.
According to Pauw, she forwarded this information with supporting documents to GamerLegion. She says she is 100% sure that ManeschijnXÂ is Bentas, although Bentas desperately tried to delete all evidence (via twitter):
If you understand the story, you will see how ridiculous and easy it is as a man to join a women’s e-sports organization by identifying only as a woman.
What does the accused say? She announced on September 26 that she is leaving the team because of the “current events”. She thanks GamerLegion for the support and assistance. She also assures that she is cooperating with ESL and FACEIT in the current investigation.
More on GamerLegion and the problems with the new women’s team:
German team signs 5 women for CS:GO, shows them proud – Fires 20-year-old after only 2 days