Karel “Twisten” Asenbrener, a 19-year-old Czech gamer who played “Valorant” for Team Vitality, has taken his own life, his team’s assistant coach confirmed. His last tweet, which said “Good night,” went viral with 3.8 million views.
Team Vitality, a French eSports organization, expressed its shock and sorrow over Asenbrener’s death in a tweet on Wednesday.
“Our Valorant player Karel ‘Twisten’ Asenbrener passed away last night,” the team wrote. “We are deeply saddened by this devastating loss, and our first thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends in this difficult time.”
The team added: “The whole Team Vitality Organization is devastated by this news.”
Asenbrener had opened up about his mental health struggles earlier this year, revealing that he had self-harmed and considered suicide over Christmas. He also said that he had spent some days in a mental health hospital for people with serious problems.
“I have been dealing with depression for over two years now,” he said in a statement in February. “I don’t know if people saw it at the event here at the LOCK/IN but over Christmas I did bad things to myself.”
He continued: “I self-harmed and my was in bad situation [sic] for a few days and was considering ending it all but my dad saved me. I spent few days in the ‘worst’ Mental Health Hospital for people that have serious problems.”
Harry “Gorilla” Mepham, Team Vitality’s assistant coach, also paid tribute to Asenbrener on Twitter, calling him one of his closest friends and “brother.”
“I woke up this morning to the news of one of my closest friends, someone who genuinely felt as if he was my brother, taking his own life. Words can not describe the grief or emptiness i’m feeling right now,” Mepham tweeted on Wednesday.
He added: “I loved him and forever will. I’ll leave this with a quote from his favorite show, and something he used to say to me when i felt down: ‘If you are feeling disheartened, that you are somehow not enough, set your heart ablaze.’ Rest easy brother, we all love you.”
Team Vitality also urged people to take care of their mental health and shared a link to the Mental Health Europe website.
The Post has reached out to Asenbrener’s representative for comment.
