LOL co-streamer blows up, banned for mocking LPL region, then stirs trouble again with more remarks, videos taken down across all platforms

Greetings to all LPL viewers and League of Legends summoners, this is World of Esports.

Currently in the off-season, a major international event is taking place in another esports scene, while LOL has relatively low activity. As a result, co-streamer Wayward has sparked significant controversy by repeatedly making inappropriate comments.

As a co-streamer whose popularity has been rising this year, Wayward has faced intense backlash from netizens.

Co-streamer blows up, Wayward keeps mouthing off

Both Wayward and Qingtian were former top laners for TES. After retiring, they teamed up to stream together and obtained co-streaming rights. Their unique commentary style has gained them a lot of attention and recognition. As retired players, they have built a fairly successful streaming career.

However, just when their careers were on the rise, Wayward made two consecutive blunders.

First, during a live stream, he mocked the LPL region for no longer being able to afford guests, which led to an official ban. He later apologized, and this incident didn’t cause much of a stir or attract widespread attention.

But recently, Wayward opened his mouth again while streaming. After Niko won the Major in CS, Wayward directly compared League of Legends and the World Championship (S-Tournament) in a ranked game, claiming that the Major completely outperforms the S-Tournament. This sparked huge controversy, and all related clips were taken down across platforms.

Later, Wayward explained the situation during his stream, saying that he meant the Major is the world’s number one event and that he never said the S-Tournament is inferior to the Major.

This explanation left people completely speechless—if the Major is number one, then the S-Tournament is obviously inferior to the Major.

League’s popularity declines, yet its events still top-tier

We can analyze Wayward’s statement from two perspectives. First, from an objective standpoint, the Major’s popularity actually falls short of the S-Tournament. League of Legends’ overall popularity has indeed declined over the past two years, with many players and streamers losing income or jobs. However, the viewership and excitement of League’s events remain in a league of their own.

It’s fair to say that apart from the S-Tournament, LOL’s other events don’t draw much attention. But the S-Tournament alone, in terms of entertainment value and viewership, is at the T0 level. This may be tied to League’s unique event structure—Riot’s design makes the S-Tournament’s prestige far outweigh all other events combined.

Both players and viewers regard winning the S-Tournament as the highest honor, highlighting the event’s distinctiveness.

From Wayward’s perspective as a co-streamer, his actions clearly constitute “biting the hand that feeds him.” Every streamer who wants to commentate on League matches must obtain official authorization. The officials provide this opportunity, and many streamers dream of getting co-streaming rights but never do. Yet Wayward, as an LOL co-streamer, has now twice bitten the hand, leaving people stunned.

LOL’s environment is tough—cherish the chance to make money

Personally, I think Wayward’s first remark did reflect the reality of the LPL scene, but as an official co-streamer, he simply shouldn’t have said such things. If the authorities wanted to, they could revoke his co-streaming rights, and he’d be in trouble immediately. Wayward’s success largely relies on this opportunity provided by the officials. Once he loses it, he’ll quickly fade into obscurity.

History is full of cases where big streamers have crashed. This year, IG even won its lawsuit against Xuan Shen, who could only apologize and pay compensation to keep his co-streaming privileges.

In today’s LOL environment, anyone who gets such a chance should cherish it and have a clear understanding of their own standing. Countless influencers have proven the saying, “People cannot earn money beyond their level of awareness.” Lacking awareness and overestimating oneself inevitably leads to painful consequences.

Editor

In the end, it’s up to the officials whether they want to take action. Normally, they rely on co-streamers to generate buzz, but if a co-streamer goes too far, they can easily revoke the privilege. With so many co-streamers across all platforms, dropping one has virtually no impact.