23Savage complains about Filipinos “spreading like cancer” in SEA pro scene

Images via Liquipedia | Edited by Dave Bernasibo, Esports INQ

Thai Dota 2 star player Nuengnara “23Savage” Teeramahanon recently went viral over a comment he made during one of his gaming streams. The carry player for Talon Esports said that “Filipinos spread like cancer,” and that he doesn’t want to ever play in a team full of Filipinos again. In the now-privated video uploaded on 23Savage’s official YouTube channel, the player commented on how he does not want to play on a team with more than 2 Filipino players.

The comment came out during one game where a player on the opposing side was allegedly stream-sniping him, telling 23Savage that he is a fan and that he should accept him, referring to the sniper’s in-game friend request. The Thai professional player suspected that the stream sniper was a Filipino, and proceeded to rant about how Filipinos spread like cancer in the professional scene. “If I were to manage a team and choose players, I will only allow 1 Filipino player in my team at most,” he quipped.

23Savage’s history with Filipinos

23Savage is no stranger to being matched with Filipino players throughout his professional career. In 2019, he played under Fnatic together with Michael “Ninjaboogie” Ross Jr. during the Midas Mode tournament. He also played with Djardel “DJ” Mampusti under the same team throughout the majority of 2020. When he moved to T1 in 2021, he was eventually teamed up with Karl Matthew Baldovino and Carlo “Kuku” Palad. He was then moved to the inactive roster to make room for another Filipino, Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte in early 2022. A few weeks later, T1 fully released 23Savage from their roster as the Thai player went on to play under Talon Esports, Gabbi’s former team before T1. 

Filipinos seem to not be offended by 23Savage’s remark, with most of the commenters on a Facebook post agreeing with the Thai player’s sentiments. Some comments have even pointed out that the bitterness stemmed from him being kicked out of T1 to be replaced by Gabbi, which made T1 become a team ridden with 3 Filipino players.

In a 2022 interview with 23Savage by Dot Esports, 23Savage revealed that T1 had plans where he was not part of the equation, and that it was done under Kuku’s discretionary powers as team captain. Whether or not this was the root of his comment that Filipinos are “cancer” remains to be unknown.

23Savage has not made any posts clarifying his comment, and there have been no public comments from Filipino professional players so far at the time of writing this article.

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