ZETA DIVISION's Flappy was forced to come out as transgender after rumors surfaced he was a man competing in the Game Changers division.
ZETA DIVISION, one of Japan's most successful Valorant organizations, announced on July 27 that they'd signed a new core roster to compete in the Game Changers division, which focuses on female and marginalized communities.
After the announcement, a prominent Japanese content creator that focuses on bizarre news and drama, Takigare, tweeted out the following to ZETA DIVISION:
Hey, are you sure flappy is a woman? Don't mind me if so!
This naturally sparked some controversy as it would seem ZETA DIVISION could be infringing the Game Changers eligibility rules. As it turns out, the organization was trying to protect Flappy's identity as a transgender woman - with rumors spreading after Takigare's comment, ZD was forced to reveal Flappy's situation with an official statement.
VALORANT GCBu Men - 2022 VALORANT Champions Tour Game Changers JapannoChu Chang Zi Ge nitsuitehttps://t.co/Q4SuLS1dRI pic.twitter.com/ocHUO5suDs
— ZETA DIVISION (@zetadivision) August 3, 2022
In the statement, ZETA DIVISION mentions that Flappy had given the organization permission to introduce her as a transgender woman in their initial roster reveal, something the org opted not do to in order to protect her from possible harassment, especially since she is currently underage.
However, given the current situation with spreading false rumors on social media, we have decided to make this announcement to prevent defamation against her
In the statement, ZETA DIVISION also confirmed that Flappy is undergoing hormone treatment, with a medical certificate by her doctors confirming this situation prior to being signed by the Japanese organization. Finally, ZD condemned those spreading rumors about Flappy's gender identity, adding:
Forcing a specific person to come out regarding their sexual orientation or gender identity, as well as acts of exposing them without their permission, are ethically and socially unacceptable acts. We at ZETA DIVISION intend to deal with such remarks and actions with a firm determination
With this controversy hopefully past them, the ZETA DIVISION Game Changers roster will now prepare for the GC Japan qualifiers this upcoming August 6 that will grant two spots for the Valorant Champions Tour GC East Asia Finals.
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