The LoL player Norskeren has now caused a lot of stir in the community of League of Legends. He used a racist remark in the chat that should not have been seen by anyone. A video revealed it.
Who is it about? The LoL professional Tore “Norskeren” Hoel Eilertsen plays in the support position for the team Splyce. He has now apologized for a racist remark he made in the chat during the champion selection of an LoL match.
A hard blow for the reputation of the LoL team, which had performed well in the current World Championship and eventually got eliminated in the quarterfinals after some strong matches.
What did he write in the chat? With a behind-the-scenes video, the team Splyce wanted to show another insight into the 2019 LoL World Championship. The camera also swung over the team chat during champion selection. Dexerto managed to secure a screenshot of it showing that Norskeren wrote the letters “ngr” – apparently the abbreviation for “Nigger” or a similar term.
In context, many questionable terms like “sagmadik” and “chokma” were written. Presumably, the players in the team assumed that this private team chat would remain private. While editing the video, this likely went unnoticed and thus went online on YouTube.
What happened next? After people who saw the video pointed it out to him, the LoL professional Norskeren quickly apologized on social media. He stated that he understands the impact of this word and is sorry.
“A recently released video showed a clip from my private chat screen that included the use of a completely inappropriate word. I understand the impact of it, and I am truly sorry. It was a mistake and does not reflect who I am and what I believe in.” [via Twitter]
The affected video by Splyce has since been set to “private” on YouTube, and it cannot currently be viewed.
Overactive Media, the organization to which Team Splyce belongs, commented to Dexerto.
We took immediate action in this matter. We deleted the video after being informed about the situation. We also quickly made a call with the player to discuss the issue and its implications.
He acknowledged his mistake and publicly apologized. This does not reflect our teams, players, or our organization in any way. At OAM, we will continue to focus on creating an inclusive, fair, and respectful environment.
Source: Paulo Senra, VP of Global Content and PR of OAM to Dexerto
What further consequences there will be for Norskeren is unclear. However, the public apology, the deletion of the promo video, and the call with the team owner show that this likely caused significant internal trouble.
LoL has clear rules against racist remarks. The question is whether these apply if it was a private team chat that only his team could see and not other players.
On the streaming platform TwitchTV, they are particularly quick with racist remarks:
