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CS:GO enjoyed its first premier offline tournament since the conclusion of PGL Major Stockholm 2021 in October 2021. Similar to the majors, Blast Premier: Fall Finals 2021 witnessed Natus Vincere (NAVI) emerge as champions.
But more than NAVI's victory, what caught the eye of viewers worldwide was the remark of popular British commentator Alex "Machine" Richardson in reply to Danish fans live at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen.
CS:GO hosts Machine stands up to the booing audience in support of shox
The predominantly Danish audience expressed their disapproval towards Team Vitality facing Denmark's favorite, Astralis, in the Lower Bracket Finals of the tournament.
After Astralis and Team Vitality had their respective walkouts to enter the arena, host Machine proceeded to address the crowd by interacting with the teams. Starting with Richard "shox" Papillon from Team Vitality, Machine commented,
"You won the first bl**dy major in 2014. Things have..."
Cutting off his own statement midway through, Machine turned to the crowd after noticing the dominant presence of hecklers among the Danish audience who were expressing their dissent towards Team Vitality quite audibly.
In reply to the booing, the host exclaimed,
"Shut your mouth, you weirdos. Proper freaks. It's Counter-Strike! We cheer for the games, boys. None of this weird politics."
The audience burst into shouts of agreement, while Vitality's captain apEX can also be seen roaring in support. Machine further defended shox by saying,
"Cheer for your team when they're winning. But enjoy the counter. Enjoy the fragging. Stop being freaks about it."
Following his statement, he received cheers of approval from both Astralis and the Danish CS:GO fans. Machine's reaction in support of Team Vitality has garnered respect from fans all over the world as well.
shox is a 29-year-old Counter-Strike player who is a veteran of the game. Considering the nature of CS:GO and its online community, toxicity is not a rare occurrence. However, to keep professionalism in competitions intact, Machine jumped to the defense of shox and delivered a sensible argument that managed to lighten the mood.
