After Rising Hope’s entire Valorant roster left the org, former head coach Jehiel alleged the exodus was due to another coach’s inappropriate and sexual conduct toward players.
On October 5, the Esports org Rising Hope – formerly known as Nigma Galaxy Female – announced that it would be saying ‘goodbye’ to every player of its all-female Valorant team. They also stated coaches Simons and mdvjk would be staying on to help form a new team.
However, on October 9, the team’s former head coach Jehiel would take to Twitter to explain why the team decided to leave the org – and they did so via a TwitLonger titled ‘Why we left Rising Hope.’
In the letter, Jehiel claimed that the team unanimously voted to leave Rising Hope due to the trauma inflicted on them by Coach Simons. She alleged that he had sexually harassed the players on more than one occasion while practicing.
Jehiel accused Simons of making inappropriate remarks during practices. She claimed he would shout “Hey Wway, call me and show me your d*ck”. As the coach of an all-female team, Jehiel called out Simons for his uncomfortable commentary and decided to hold future practices without the two Rising Hope coaches present.
On September 27, Simons requested to watch the Rising Hope team scrimmage, and Jehiel allowed it so long as Wway was present to stop any of Simons’ outbursts. Jehiel claimed that after some time, Simons began speaking out in Russian and would not stop upon request.
She alleged that he once again shouted “Wway call me and show me your dick” before turning his camera on in Discord and pointing it at his exposed penis. Jehiel explains that all of her female players were using dual monitors with the Discord call pulled up on the second monitor, so they all had seen Simon’s penis before leaving the Discord call.
Jehiel explained that she had not seen Simons expose himself as she was using a single monitor setup, but her players had explained what had happened after the match. She then called Wway – who was present during the incident – and he claimed to be “dumbfounded” by Simons’ actions.
The former head coach claimed they approached Rising Hope and stated they would leave the org if Simons was not removed. Allegedly, they were hesitant at first, stating that Simons is “a big star”. Jehiel claims she was told Simons would not be joining the team as a coach going forward.
But due to the emotional trauma Jehiel claims she and her team suffered, they ultimately decided to leave Rising Hope.
Simons under fire for not paying Valorant tournament winners
In a reply to Jehiel’s tweet, members of the Valorant community began connecting dots as the name ‘Simons’ sounded familiar. 2021 Valorant World Champion Zeek stated that he had won a $3k tournament hosted by Simons in 2020, but the Rising Hope coach never paid out any of the prize money.
Kronikel confirmed that Simons was the organizer of the aforementioned tournament and went on to accuse him of organizing “many scam tournaments”.
At the time of reporting, Rising Hope has yet to comment on Simons alleged actions.
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