The LEC, organized by Riot Games, has apologized for an ‘inappropriate chat message’ which was shown during the League of Legends EMEA Championship Spring Week 3 clash between Karmine Corp and Team Heretics.
‘Inappropriate message’ shown on LEC broadcast
The LEC broadcast displays selected chat messages from its YouTube and Twitch chats as part of the broadcast. The messages briefly display on screen above the bottom HUD with the message and the username of the chatter.
The message in question was shown on broadcast during Game 2 of the series, with Karmine Corp 1-0 up in the series and comfortably winning Game 2 after a successful dive on Heretics players Théo ‘Sheo’ Borile and Noah ‘Wags’ Wagberg.
Following the engagement, the message “NETENKYEAHOO!!!” was shown before the graphic moved on to the next chat message.
The message is seemingly a combination of the names of Karmine Corp Mid Laner, Kang ‘kyeahoo’ Ye-hoo, and long-serving Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.
LEC apologizes for the displayed chat message
Following the broadcast, the LEC apologized for showing the message on social media, stating, “An inappropriate chat message was shown in error during today’s LEC broadcast. This message should not have aired.
“We want to apologize to Karmine Corp, Kyeahoo, and to fans for this mistake. We’ve taken the appropriate steps to ensure this won’t happen again.”
LEC casters Aaron ‘Medic’ Chamberlain and Robert ‘Dagda’ Price both took to social media to clarify that the message was not representative of their own viewpoints.
Dagda clarified, “To be clear, as casters we have nothing to do with the messages that are pulled from chat and in no way does those shown today represent my views.”
Medic stated that he has escalated the incident to Riot, also stating that it was “in no way representative” of the casters’ views.
In the moment, the casters were not discussing the message, instead praising KC’s support, Alan ‘Busio’ Cwalina, for a highly impactful Tidal Wave in the team fight.
The message can still be seen on LEC’s Twitch VOD, though the YouTube stream for the day’s action has seemingly not been archived.
You can discuss all things LEC on Insider Gaming’s Discord Server.
For more news, see the gameplay details of League of Legends’ next champion.
Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
More from Darragh Harbinson
