In the Brazilian League of Legends, there was an incident where a former professional player made sexist remarks about a player from the INTZ e-Sports team. He received a lot of backlash for this, and now he faces a lawsuit.
What happened? The Brazilian LoL player Pedro “Lep” Marcari caused a stir with a comment about the 17-year-old player Júlia “Mayumi” Nakamura during his livestream on January 25.
During an analysis of the first matchday of the Brazilian “League of Legends” league CBLoL, one of his followers asked him the following question:
- “Wasn’t it your idea for the guys to scratch their balls after shaking hands with Mayumi in the Superliga?”
Lep responded with:
- “After? I should at least do it beforehand, right?”
O que será que passa na cabeça de um cara de 25 anos dando ideia de “passar a mão no saco” antes de cumprimentar uma menina de 17? https://t.co/BSAwsV28UO
— Júlia Nakamura (@jumayumin1) January 25, 2020
What does Lep face after this comment? Lep must expect consequences after his actions. Mayumi has announced she will go to court.
Moreover, it is questionable whether the LoL player will ever find a professional team again. He played in the CBLoL in 2018 and last season at RED Canids in the Brazilian Challenger League. Currently, he has no team.
It is also possible that the streaming platform Twitch will take action as a result of this statement. The sexist remark was made during a livestream there.
Criticism of Lep, Support for Mayumi
How was the comment received? The remark caused a lot of outrage on the internet. In a tweet, player Mayumi herself spoke out:
- “I wonder what goes through the mind of a 25-year-old man telling others to ‘scratch their balls’ before shaking the hand of a 17-year-old girl.”
Mayumi’s LoL team also supported her and expressed sharp criticism of Lep. INTZ e-Sports wrote in an official statement:
With this letter, INTZ expresses its rejection of Pedro Marcari’s comments about our professional athlete and streamer Júlia Mayumi on January 25, 2020.
The content, which was broadcast on Twitch.tv, was defamatory, hurtful, and crossed boundaries. It caused shock, disgust, and calls for legal action, to put it mildly. The fact that a professional eSports player behaved so abominably that damage was inflicted on the victim and her family is tantamount to a crime.
We understand that such actions are unacceptable not only in the world of electronic sports and entertainment but in society as a whole. These actions contaminate the social environment and influence young people to condone such behavior, which breeds new forms of intolerance.
In light of the facts, INTZ hopes that this case will be resolved quickly and that the relevant authorities will take action. Actions like these reinforce the need to continue fighting against discrimination, prejudice, and offenses of any kind, especially against women, not only for our club but for society as a whole.
How did Lep respond? In a tweet to Mayumi, the LoL player apologized. He claimed he should not have participated in this “joke” and promises it will not happen again in the future.
But just two days later, Lep received a donation that brought up the subject again in a voice message. The streamer could not help but laugh.
Mayumi then expressed her disappointment and asked on Twitter what the point of a public apology was if it was not meant sincerely at all.
Female Pro Players Struggling with Sexism
Who is Mayumi? The 17-year-old is one of the few women who has made it into a professional League of Legends team. In 2019, she was predominantly a substitute support for the Brazilian team INTZ e-Sports, and since this season, she has been playing from the start.
In her first game against Uppercut Esports, she achieved a KDA of 1/0/15 as a support on Nautilus. After the match, she was self-critical, thanked everyone for their support, but also demanded more from herself in the future.
That women do not always have it easy was also shown by the LoL team Vaevictics, which consists only of female players. They were treated so disrespectfully that Riot even intervened.
But sexism has already occurred at the developer studio itself. In November 2018, two women sued Riot Games, who had worked at the Los Angeles studio. In the meantime, a settlement of 10 million dollars was reached.
Another streamer has made headlines in recent weeks for winning consecutively:
