Home Gaming UPDATED: It seems James “2GD” Harding has been removed as host of the Shanghai Dota 2 Major

UPDATED: It seems James “2GD” Harding has been removed as host of the Shanghai Dota 2 Major

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Valve’s second Dota 2 Major, Shanghai, kicked off yesterday and already notorious host James “2GD” Harding has disappeared as the host of the discussion panel. Harding is known to be a bit of a badass, unfiltered host who has always brought colour to any panel he resides on. He says what he wants, to who he wants and apparently Valve hashad enough. Naturally the Dota 2 world has exploded on Twitter and Reddit demanding the return of Harding, but it’s unfortunately too late as Valve have already made the call.


Reddit and Twitter aside, the usual constructive game discussion which happens in the Twitch chat (not really) has instead been replaced by the latest “Copy Pasta.”

James

Many immediately blamed Perfect World (host of the Dota 2 Major) as they’re known to be rather conservative on their broadcasts, but Harding again offered the unfortunate truth, that is was Valve’s decision, not Perfect World.

There has been no official statement offered by Valve yet as to why Harding was removed from the major, but many speculate it has to do with an altercation between the production team and Harding during the games which took place earlier this morning. The speculation, whether it is true or not, came from Reddit.

”Well the game got delayed forever because of the pause, and the production team said James could go to break and he ignored them and continued talking with the panel rather than cut to break so apparently they freaked out. He even made a pretty entertaining joke about how they came off camera to change his battery thinking he couldn’t hear them. The segment itself was pretty much standard “game is paused bullshit” fare. Maybe the production team doesn’t like James taking liberties to entertain the audience.”

Harding apparently did not withhold any of his usual pottymouth behaviour and swore on stream, which is a big no-no in China. Petitions have been started, the community is up in arms, and it’s basically Diretide all over again. The question is, will Valve listen again?

More updates as the story unfolds.

Update: Gabe Newell has spoken, James has opened up.

Last Updated: February 26, 2016

27 Comments

  1. Commander Admiral Chief

    February 26, 2016 at 12:02

    • VampyreSquirrel

      February 26, 2016 at 12:05

      Cool pic.

      Reply

    • HvR

      February 26, 2016 at 12:06

      It is all just Guateng in a mug

      Reply

      • Pariah

        February 26, 2016 at 12:07

        Is that like the runt cousin of Guano?

        Reply

        • Commander Admiral Chief

          February 26, 2016 at 12:11

          xD

          Reply

  2. Pariah

    February 26, 2016 at 12:09

    Honestly, Dota is getting too big to allow for too many freedoms. While the casual style is nice, keeping it professional is going to become ever more important. Sorry James, while your style is obviously loved, from an objective standpoint, the place for this in the major tournaments might just be vanishing.

    Saying that, I’m glad smaller tournaments exist, and in those I’m sure there will always be a place for unique, fun and interesting casters. Let’s hope that doesn’t change.

    Reply

    • xeRaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

      February 26, 2016 at 12:32

      I agree with you to an extent, but in this case according to 2GD’s tweet they told him to be himself. So in that essence they got what they asked for. Maybe Valve just didn’t know what they wanted.

      Reply

      • BakedBagel

        February 26, 2016 at 13:10

        James has been working with valve for years, he consistently hosted TI i think 3 times in a row. They knew exactly what they got when they asked him to host. imo 😀

        Reply

      • Tiaan Pat

        February 26, 2016 at 13:10

        Why tell him to be himself if they don’t like it? I just think that Valve should have know how he would present. Now its just plain boring 🙁

        Reply

    • BakedBagel

      February 26, 2016 at 13:09

      How can you say “Keeping it professional” When Perfect Worlds production value is utter trash. Constant pauses, constant delay’s, for this big of a tournament? The last hosted tourny from Perfect World was as trash as this 🙂

      Valve told James to be himself which he was. As he has always been its a major part on why he loved.

      GIFF YAMES

      Edit: Also from my standpoint, if your stream has constant delay’s like this has, you have to keep your userbase entertained

      Reply

      • Tiaan Pat

        February 26, 2016 at 13:12

        I agree on this 100%. The technical issues for a tournament this big is retarded! I mean in one game they asked to pause for a min to sort out something. I mean give a valid reason at least!

        Reply

        • BakedBagel

          February 26, 2016 at 13:13

          How big is the prize pool too, the fact that problems werent solved before hand is a major problem within itself

          Reply

    • guyman

      February 26, 2016 at 15:07

      “from an objective standpoint, valve should act like riot”
      yeah, no. riot tried to close up and control their e-sports and now it’s dying and fast. everyone likes 2gd except for that one faggot that nobody listens to and their “winning” move is to remove him? what? fuck that. it isn’t a sport without some banter anyway

      Reply

      • dyNASTY

        February 26, 2016 at 18:58

        If Valve acted like Riot for a nano-second.
        99% of dota 2’s content would be instantly euthanized… no… no thanks

        Reply

    • dyNASTY

      February 26, 2016 at 18:56

      Well when the game’s core kill streak announcer says “Holy Shit” when you build a high kill streak… It’s almost like Valve are setting themselves up for a pretty sad double standard.
      Especially considering it’s not even original and was ripped from another game.
      But analyzing the average age of the pros and staff in the Dota 2 scene… it’s not like this is Lol and we’re dealing with a bunch of kids that retire after one bad season….
      So the guy swears, big fucking whoop? Nobody died, no casualties and nobody complained or said a thing.. except Valve. Tch
      Hypocrites

      Reply

      • RustedFaith

        February 29, 2016 at 16:43

        Hypocrites quite rich coming from you …

        Lots of people complained actually including fellow panellists, if you think “Holy Shit” in a game gives you the right to make rape jokes, saying you watched disabled porn in your hotel room, belittle fellow broadcasters with over a million viewers ?

        Thats a week arguement ….

        Since when is rape jokes banter ? Since when is discussing on air how you struggled to prepare for the show because of the disabled porn he was watching in his hotel banter ?? He swears the entire time when one of the panellists swore he reprimanded them quite harshly again with over a million viewers. I guess him slacking a player of for being overweight is also banter ?

        Ja right …

        The onyl caster that will really be missed if he leaves will be Tobi Wan, this 2gd is a looser thats popular with young kids that gets a kick of him swearing on the shows and casting he does.

        Reply

        • guyman

          March 14, 2016 at 23:47

          you just counted up all the things an entertainer said in his career, cherry picked the stuff that you could spin as “bad” out of context and did just that. congrats, you know how to put words in others’ mouths. you got yourself a real mean guy there. too bad he’s not real which makes your argument a hell of a lot less valid. it’s just fanfiction based off a real person.

          Reply

        • dyNASTY

          March 21, 2016 at 20:38

          “Lots of people complained”
          yeah I don’t see any real evidence of that. Just nothing but hear-say, so that is literally a baseless statement.
          There have only been two notable individuals who weren’t satisfied and were quite vocal about it. So when you say lots, well… that in itself is pretty weak.

          Perhaps you don’t know who 2gd is, but he’s been known for that for quite some time, and his reputation is built from that being his angle and personality that draws his audience.
          His gimmick started as this, being outspoken, crude and very direct. Ask anybody, it’s what people love about him.
          So when you know that much about him, and have worked with him in the past. It’s very hard to respect your … .. “point of view” when a company hires him again and… what? Expected a face turn or something at your convenience.

          Get real kid

          Reply

  3. Alien Emperor Trevor

    February 26, 2016 at 12:13

    2BD 😛

    Reply

    • Pariah

      February 26, 2016 at 12:15

      XD

      Reply

    • Commander Admiral Chief

      February 26, 2016 at 12:21

      T3 Cap

      Reply

  4. Greylingad[CNFRMD]

    February 26, 2016 at 12:24

    Well, this does kind of resemble a BBC television program that also had the tendency to lean toward the controversial, even though it was by far the highest grossing show in their production suite, it still had rules that even the Mighty godlike presenters had to adhere to, more specifically one of them, but still, rules are rules I suppose, as long as he didn’t moer someone or offend a truck driver, he should at least still have a future in crowd pleasing…

    Reply

    • dyNASTY

      February 26, 2016 at 19:00

      well he DID say some shit about EE and how he thinks he sucks but i dont think anybody cared

      Reply

  5. Rujdi Gana

    February 27, 2016 at 03:26

    GIFF 2GD FUCKING VALVE TRASH, RUIN THE GAME, BEING REAL IS WAY MORE IMPORTANT THAN BEING NEEDLESSLY AND WORTHLESSLY SMOOTH-FACED

    Reply

    • Spathi

      February 27, 2016 at 11:40

      STOP FUCKING SHOUTING!!!

      Just being real, you know..

      Reply

  6. TheLachance

    February 27, 2016 at 03:36

    About time, hated this guy. What a jerk

    Reply

    • RustedFaith

      February 29, 2016 at 16:50

      Cant agree more !

      Reply

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