Zellsis tries to improve relationship with Brazilian fans after smack talk against LOUD
Sentinels’ VALORANT player Jordan "Zellsis" Montemurro claimed to have received death threats at the hands of LOUD fans after his team had won in the Americas Kickoff event.
Taunting the opposing team during the Grand Final, the US American addressed the situation first on his stream, later appealing to the Brazilian crowd.
Comeback shutdown with a sour taste
During the Grand Final of the 2024 Americas Kickoff tournament, Sentinels broke their major tournament dry spell, beating the Brazilian team LOUD with a close 3:2 scoreline. During the match on March 3, Sentinels went up to a quick 2-0 score in the best-of-five series, putting themselves in a three-matchpoint position.
The competition turned tense as LOUD showed a valiant effort at a reverse sweep, coming back on Icebox and Bind to equalise the series. On Lotus, Sentinels ended the Brazilian’s hopes at a back-to-back domestic title, rolling LOUD with a convincing 13-4 scoreline. Especially during the final map, Zellsis turned up the smack talk, taunting his opponents and riling up their fans.
“After that map, I went on my Insta and opened up my DMs. [...] The amount of messages I got that were like they were going to kill me or my family, holy sh#t,” the Sentinels player recalled.
Mending fences
Despite the serious subject matter, Zellsis tried to extend an olive branch to the Brazilian crowd, addressing them in Portuguese in a Tweet following his stream. “I know I said I received a lot of hate from Brazilian fans, but I also received 100 times more love as well. I don't hate anyone, and everything I do is to compete and create good memories for me, my team, my organization, and the fans,” Zellsis explained according to a translation. The player even jokingly advertised his team's skins, asking readers to purchase the Sentinels bundle for the nth time on his personal social media accounts.
In just over a week, Sentinels and LOUD will both represent the Americas at VCT Masters Madrid with the former facing off against the European from Team Heretics and LOUD playing against the South Korean representative Gen.G.
