Red Bull Racing has suspended Estonian Formula 2 driver Juri Vips after he used a racial slur while playing Call of Duty: Warzone on Twitch.
Vips was live streaming a round of Warzone on Monday with fellow Red Bull junior driver Liam Lawson when Vips swore and used the n-word. Lawson reacted, exclaiming “Juri!” and laughing.
It followed an earlier incident in the same stream in which Juri refused to put on a pink Red Bull cap at Lawson’s request, saying “No, that’s gay.”
“Juri, you can’t say that!” Lawson responds.
Though the stream VOD has since been deleted from Vips’ channel, clips of the moment he used the slur have been circulating on social media since.
Red Bull Racing has this morning issued a statement to clarify that Vips has been suspended pending an internal investigation into the incident. “Red Bull Racing has suspended junior driver Juri Vips from all team duties with immediate effect, pending a full investigation into the incident,” read the statement. “As an organisation we condemn abuse of any kind and have a zero-tolerance policy to racist language or behaviour within our organisation.”
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) June 21, 2022
This morning, Vips took to his own Instagram to issue an apology.
View this post on Instagram
The status of Vips’ current drive at F2 team Hitech GP is unknown.
Many Formula drivers across F1, F2, and F3 stream on Twitch in their spare time. McLaren Racing driver Lando Norris led the live streaming charge when the 2020 season was temporarily canceled during the outbreak of Covid-19 and continues to show up on YouTube through his channel Quadrant.
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