Honda terminate Liquid sponsorship agreement following R6 "atomic bombing" social media gaff

Japanese automaker Honda have announced the termination of their sponsorship agreement with Liquid following an inadvertently inappropriate X post made by Liquid Rainbow Six: Siege player, Lucas "DiasLucasBr" Dias, on May 14th. Honda had

The controversy centers around a post made by DiasLucasBr following Liquid's loss to Japanese squad CAG Osaka after which Dias posted a GIF of a nuclear bomb exploding over Hiroshima, which Liquid claims was a poor and inadvertent choice of GIF and was meant to be a reference to how his squad "blew up" in the series. While the post was intended to be harmless, it proved highly controversial and insensitive to the Japanese community due to the historical context of the American atomic bombing of Japan during World War II.

The post and the subsequent reaction from the Japanese community continued to embroil Liquid to the point of Honda needing to step in, announcing the end of their relationship with Liquid via a now-deleted blog post. According to reporting by Japanese journalist Rio Hamada, Honda stated that the reason for the termination was that Dias' post was "incompatible with Honda's philosophy of 'respect for individuals.'"

In the wake of losing Honda as a sponsor, Liquid have responded swiftly, apologizing deeply for Dias' actions while fining the player four months’ salary and compelling him to undergo additional sensitivity training.

Additionally, Liquid are set to make a significant financial donation to charity while also planning to revamp their sensitivity and HR training across the company.

Liquid CS2 are currently competing at IEM Dallas 2025 where the Honda logo is still present on their jerseys but it remains to be seen if this will extend past day one of the tournament.