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NRG's Valorant streamer, Alan "ethos" Ruan, recently revealed that his teammate Matthew “Crit” Franks was lying about his COVID test results for Nerd Street’s Philadelphia LAN tournament.
The tournament took place on 8 and 9 January, 2022 and for the sake of safety, had requested all participants to get the PCR test done. NRG ethos formed a team named, "sameROFLMAO", with Crit as part of the roster.
Initially, Crit claimed to have taken his COVID test, where the results came out as negative. However, he later confessed to ethos in a group chat that he skipped the PCR test and took two "home COVID tests" instead.
Moreover, apart from lying about his PCR test reports, Crit participated in Nerd Street’s Philadelphia LAN tournament with his teammates, despite his entire family being COVID-19 positive.
Valorant player Crit issued apology tweet, Nerd Street authorities to look into their LAN policies
Soon after Crit confessed the truth to NRG ethos in a group chat, the streamer posted a screenshot of the conversation over Twitter. Additionally, ethos later stated on Twitter that Crit had tested positive along with a few others. Thus, he alerted all the participants and organizers at the Nerd Street’s Philadelphia LAN tournament to get a COVID-19 test via his tweet.
In response, Nerd Street's CEO, John Fazio, commented that the act was "unacceptable." He stated that the management would look into their LAN policies and handle the matter promptly and responsibly.
Later, after NRG ethos' tweet, Crit made an apology tweet and claimed himself responsible for risking everyone's health present in the Valorant LAN tournament, with his lie.
Furthermore, in his tweet, he mentioned,
"I used two of the home COVID tests. One day before I left for Philadelphia, and also the day that I left and both came out to be negative. So I believed that was enough but I was wrong. All I can say is I’m sorry for the trouble I have caused."
Obviously, organizing LAN tournaments has been difficult ever since the pandemic began. Valorant LANs like VCT North America Last Chance Qualifiers had to go back to online mode, with many players testing positive for COVID-19 during the Champions tournament.
The entire Valorant community, including other professional players and esports personalities, have heavily criticized Crit for lying about his COVID test reports and putting everyone's health at risk.
