Esports fans are so toxic that Faker and Gumayusi are taking legal action

Esports is stuffed with passionate followers and gamers, so that you’re certain to come back throughout heated debates and annoyed takes. In South Korea, the place League of Legends esports is much more mainstream, that toxicity has turn into an excessive amount of for FANABLE, the company that represents Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong.

A little bit of criticism is predicted when video games don’t go the way in which followers hoped. However there was a rise in harassment in direction of T1, Hanwha Life Esports, and different standard groups. Now, FANABLE is taking authorized motion towards esports followers who make malicious and defamatory statements about its gamers.

“Just lately, in some communities, malicious posts, distribution, and defamation focusing on our gamers have continued to escalate past acceptable ranges, usually with none effort at self-restraint. Because of this, now we have reached the conclusion that it’s not attainable to miss these actions,” FANABLE stated.

“Accordingly, we’ll actively evaluate and proceed with all attainable measures, together with each civil and legal authorized actions, in response to such conduct.”

Faker, Gumayusi, and different standard gamers are sometimes the targets of passionate followers who lash out when the group doesn’t carry out properly. However it has gone far past simply abusive posts on-line. Followers have despatched funeral flowers to T1 headquarters to protest after a foul efficiency. A 12 months in the past, League of Legends gamers in South Korea paid to have billboards protesting towards Gumayusi, who was taking part in for T1 on the time.

“Those that have been antagonistically harassing Gumayusi, stalking his household and others, have now raised 1000’s of {dollars} to fund billboard protests and cell LED advertisements within the coronary heart of Seoul to torment him additional,” stated one fan on Reddit.

By this time, followers had been demanding that T1 do one thing to guard its gamers.

“There was an enormous quantity of hate feedback on the membership after Guma’s benching,” one other fan famous. “They even mass-reported any tweets supporting Guma and even mentioning him to get them eliminated. T1 did nothing about this for weeks. I’ve no hope that they’ll do something about this both.”

T1 by no means stepped up. However now FANABLE has.

Nonetheless, it raises questions concerning the conduct of esports followers. It’s all the time been a really meme-heavy group of passionate individuals who love debates and s*** speaking. It’s an enormous a part of the tradition, with esports organizations themselves participating within the chaos. G2 Esports employed a airplane to fly a banner studying “F*** SENTINELS” across the time of a serious VALORANT rivalry.

And that kinda stuff is humorous. It’s the eagerness and grit of the esports neighborhood and gamers that make it a particular scene. I usually speak concerning the broke-ness of the FGC, the way it’s simply gamers’ pure want to grind and compete that retains all of it going. It’s what makes esports fascinating and real.

However that keenness can manifest in poisonous methods when left unchecked. It’s okay to really feel upset. It’s okay to debate what went improper in a sport. However saying hateful issues in direction of a participant, wishing them hurt, discovering their tackle, and placing up billboards mocking them… That’s not simply ardour, that’s harassment and abuse. It’s not a joke.

I’m glad that FANABLE has stepped in. Riot, T1, and different entities have been silent for years as loss of life threats continued. Democratic Occasion of Korea lawmaker Jeon Yong-gi demanded motion towards cyberbullying in November 2025, calling on Riot and different concerned esports leaders. That’s how unhealthy it obtained.

“Cheering for a group can by no means be used as a justification for singling out a selected participant for abuse,” Jeon stated.

It’s unclear who is really at fault for letting it proceed, however it’s a reduction to see somebody trying to guard the gamers. Nonetheless, why are y’all threatening a participant’s household over a sport loss? Take a breath. Play a comfortable sport. Meditate. Eat a Faker ice cream. It’s not value it.