Team Liquid member and professional Rainbow Six Siege player Lucas Dias has been fined by the esports organisation after he posted “insensitive” content on social media.
Dias’ team, participating in 2025’s first major Rainbow Six tournament, R6 RE:LO:AD, lost their match to Japan-based CAG Osaka on May 13 and were subsequently knocked out of the tournament.
On the same day, in a now-deleted X/Twitter post, Dias stated (machine translated), “We won against Faze and lost against the powerful CAG, but let’s move forward and see you at the next camp,” accompanied by a GIF of a nuclear bomb explosion.
Lucas Dias issues apology
On May 15, Dias responded, “Hey everyone. I want to sincerely apologize for the post I made after our last loss. I made a big mistake using that GIF, and I understand that it may have caused discomfort to many people,” he wrote.
“From the bottom of my heart, it was never my intention to make any offensive reference, but I recognize that the context and choice were inappropriate,” he continued.
Two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan during World War II, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and August 9, 1945.
“I especially want to apologize to Japanese fans, including those living in Brazil and Japan. I’m aware of the strength and importance of the Japanese community in our country, and I should have been more mindful and responsible with my post,” Dias’ statement continued.
Japanese car manufacturer Honda, which had been a sponsor of Team Liquid for six years, confirmed in a statement on its website following Dias’ post, that they had “decided to terminate its sponsorship agreement with the team in question.”
Honda confirmed they had “terminated” its sponsorship of Team Liquid in a post on their website.
“We deeply apologize for any offense this incident may have caused not only to the e-sports community, but also to many people in Japan and globally,” Honda’s statement continued.
Lucas Dias fined by Team Liquid
In a lengthy statement posted May 19 on X, Team Liquid stated its belief that Dias had “no malicious intent” with his original post and the outcome had been the result of a “very serious lapse in judgement and awareness.”
“To our fans in Japan and the Japanese esports community, we fully understand how this post was disrespectful and hurtful to you. We want to express our sincere regrets and apology that we made you feel this way,” the post continued.
Liquid outlined steps being taken to prevent “similar incidents in the future,” including Dias being fined four months’ worth of his salary and other members of Team Liquid donating any winnings from the Reload tournament to charity.
Likewise, “mandatory re-training” for Liquid employees, with Dias’ original X post being used as a “real-world case study”, is planned to be undertaken within the next six months.
Of Honda’s sponsorship termination, Liquid said: “Although we regret this outcome, we understand and respect the decision, and extend our thanks to Honda Motors for having been good partners for 6 years.”
