Riot Games has reduced the punishment issued to former Cloud 9 star Hai Du Lam, who was put on 3-month probation the League Partner Program after a questionable ban sparked massive backlash from fans and fellow streamers such as Voyboy and Tyler1.
Hai has become a popular League of Legends streamer following his LCS career and was well known for his positive attitude during his time as a pro player.
However, the streamer recently hit out at Riot after he was issued a chat restriction in League of Legends, for calling out two AFK players in a Solo Q match while they had remained unpunished, leaving fans confused after many in the community claimed the decision was unfair.
I agree saying he has a shit attitude for being AFK is negative.
"you can't even play the game" is in response to Senna(enemy) saying what does LB do vs Senna
Fine, chat restrict me but ban/punish the bigger offender (the afkers) please. (They didn't get touched).
sad times. pic.twitter.com/6tIPzWPKpI
— Hai (@Hai) June 10, 2020
Following his initial punishment, it was revealed that Riot would also be putting Hai on 3-month probation from the League Partner Program, which offers benefits such as competing in Twitch Rivals, skin giveaway codes, and much more.
This resulted in massive backlash towards Riot’s decision, with some of League’s personalities such as Voyboy even giving up the LPP perks and threatening to leave the partner program in defense of his fellow streamer.
This is WRONG. Instead of removing Hai's undeserved punishment Riot is tripling down and putting Hai on probation from LPP. I have called griefers in my games losers too, so please put me on probation as well. I won't be using any LPP perks or participate in Rivals either. https://t.co/NKMQZA0iJv
— Joedat (@Voyboy) June 12, 2020
Tyler1 also chimed in, claiming that the punishment “made no sense” and that even he should be removed from the Partner Program if Riot were to stand behind their decision.
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“Obviously if you do it to him it’s going to make no sense,” Tyler added, highlighting Hai’s reputation among the LoL community “the play would be to either remove my LPP and ban me from tournaments or don’t touch Hai.”
Shortly after the outrage, Hai shared that he had a conversation with Riot, on June 13, and that his probation had been lifted, with the moderation team reducing it to just a warning instead.
It was also revealed that Riot will be working on better systems to punish LPP members that have taken things a bit too far on or off Summoner’s Rift.
I think it's important that even in frustrating situations, I do my best to be positive in my language and attitude towards others.
I'll continue on striving to be better at that and encourage everyone to do the same.
I plan on co-streaming the LCS as well, so stay tuned!
— Hai (@Hai) June 12, 2020
While some are still unhappy with Riot’s handling of the situation, Hai has seemingly moved on from the drama and explained that he was eager to return to League of Legends with a more positive approach.