For many years, League of Legends has gotten a reputation for having a passionate community. This has led to some cool moments, like BTS playing with T1 Esports, but it has also led to that popular professional team receiving backlash for recent changes.

After T1 failed to qualify for Worlds, the team’s former coach Kim Jeong-soo left. Not long after, one player on the team leaked a Discord conversation pointing to new hires. The leak named League of Legends caster LS and former StarCraft pro Polt as potential coaches.

When T1’s fans heard the news, they were not pleased. Many took to social media to implore T1 to reverse its decision for a few reasons. LS has been disliked following previous cheating scandals in StarCraft, and some Korean League of Legends fans have levied racism allegations following several past tangents. However, some of these fans have responded with personal attacks not just on LS, but on his grandmother after she was doxxed. While LS’ behavior has gotten him banned from Twitch, similar to League streamer Voyboy, the response targeting his family seems unnecessary and overblown.

News of LS’ grandma being targeted was relayed by League player Nemesis during a stream, who clarified he had LS’ permission. The abuse was apparently bad enough that LS deleted his Twitter account. T1’s fans have gone so far as to rent a truck and use it to protest T1’s decision outside its headquarters. It’s understandable that fans would be upset if their favorite team didn’t even qualify, leading to a season where DAMWON won the League 2020 World Championship, but few coaching decisions for a video game seem to warrant this level of negative action.

The other half of the anger is directed at T1 for looking to hire Polt. Polt has had little presence in the League of Legends community, and fans are disappointed that someone with more experience was not brought on. It’s not like hiring Tyler1 as a content creator either; Polt was brought on as head coach.

As of this writing, it’s not clear whether or not T1 will reverse its decision. It is worth noting that should T1 prove successful with its new coaches, fans may change their tune regarding the hiring of LS. While something like Seraphine’s marketing campaign led to a negative response online, this incident is causing people real harm in their daily lives.

League of Legends is available for PC.

Source: Dexerto