In League of Legends , the World Championships are taking place in Iceland. The European team Fnatic has already been eliminated. The team’s jungler, Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau (23), says that during the LoL Worlds 2021, fans attacked his girlfriend hard. They allegedly even sent her death threats.
This is how the Worlds went for Fnatic:
- The European team Fnatic was considered a candidate to at least reach the quarter-finals. However, one of their key players, ADC Upset, had to leave the Worlds for family reasons.
- Without Upset, Fnatic won only a single game and was eliminated in the group stage.
- Jungler Bwipo had unfollowed his team’s social media accounts after the first week. After the elimination, he reached out to the fans in a post.
Bwipo says: Losing Upset broke him
This is what Bwipo says: In a post on Twitter, Bwipo explains his situation (via twitlonger). The news that Upset was leaving the Worlds hit the 23-year-old hard. Especially since the information came so shortly before the first game and without warning, it emotionally broke Bwipo.
The entire game strategy of Fnatic was based on the exceptionally strong bot lane and Upset, the Belgian writes:
“I broke down crying because I knew we had lost. I didn’t know what to do. All our success came from the bot lane. Without them, I saw no way forward.”
Bwipo
The jungler says: He just couldn’t cope with the situation, not after 16 hours, not after 40 hours, and not after 64 hours: Losing everything he had worked for broke him.
What this has to do with his girlfriend: Bwipo emphasizes what an important role his girlfriend plays for him personally and also for the team Fnatic. She has always supported him over the last 3 years, has put her own life on hold, and has always been there for him. She also helped him keep Fnatic together, radiating good vibes and hope – without her, Fnatic would have crumbled in week 2 of the Worlds, believes Bwipo.
Even when he was struggling with the news that Upset was leaving the team, his girlfriend supported him.
At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to be with her. Bwipo wanted to go home, talk to her. He simply didn’t understand why he should continue to endure the Worlds. But his girlfriend persuaded him to stay.
Bwipo found the whole situation unbearable: He unfollowed Fnatic and the management in a fit of anger and frustration. Everything felt so unfair.
However, according to Bwipo, his fans apparently misread the situation completely from the outside and are now blaming his girlfriend for Bwipo seeming so distracted. His own fans and the community sent her death threats, attacked and insulted her for weeks. And Bwipo let that happen.
Bwipo says his girlfriend has always done everything to support him and Fnatic. And he has done nothing but let her take the blame for everything, even though she is not at fault.
She has now left social media – because of all the suffering and the death threats. He will do the same.
What’s next? There is currently no statement from Bwipo regarding his future, but rumors are already circulating that he is leaving Fnatic and looking for a new team as a free agent in 2022 (via twitter).
It seems like a lot has fallen apart during the LoL Worlds 2021.
Apparently a “Yoko Ono” situation
What’s behind this: Bwipo shows his affection for his girlfriend repeatedly on Twitter, in interviews, and also in LoL itself. For example, he hovers over the champion “Kai’Sa” in the champion select as a nod to her. In the month before the LoL Worlds, he often tweeted about her, expressing how much he misses her and how much he owes her.
Apparently, these public displays of affection have somehow led to parts of the community, especially the French-speaking one, forming a view of a kind of “Yoko Ono” figure that is supposedly ruining Fnatic, just as Yoko Ono is said to have ruined The Beatles.
When Bwipo then found himself in an exceptional situation and couldn’t cope with the loss of Upset, it seems the situation escalated. It shows how challenging it is for esports athletes when their private life becomes too public on social media.
LoL: Fnatic releases heart-wrenching video of their dream of the Worlds shattering
