Perhaps everyone has noticed that in certain regions with a strong League of Legends scene (LCK, LPL), along with a large fan base for major teams, the leaders of these teams also actively develop their players in the direction of “idolizing” them, or turning them into entertainment stars. For T1, this is no longer a strange phenomenon. The players themselves frequently participate in game shows, join entertainment variety programs with K-pop stars or other famous figures from different entertainment fields. And once they are “idolized”, like any other K-pop group, there will be a section of fans who really enjoy “shipping” players together.
However, if it’s just for fun to “ship” or, at best, to write some fanfics (fan-created stories), it might not be too unfamiliar for those who follow the “idol culture”. But recently, a TikTok account has been making the T1 fan community upset, including those who often “ship” players together. Specifically, this account posted an image that is certainly a meme about a very inappropriate action, or one could say it is offensive, involving two T1 players, Gumayusi and Keria. Notably, this account also tagged the two players in the hashtag and the clip quickly went viral.
On social media forums, many T1 fans admitted that this action is very unacceptable and tarnishes the image of genuine T1 fans. Moreover, some opinions even state that using such hashtags in the context of T1 players also using TikTok is very dangerous because they could potentially be complained about by T1 for creating negative memes about players, affecting the image of T1 fans in Vietnam.
In a recent development, the account that posted the meme has switched its status to Private. The darker sides of “idolizing” League of Legends players are increasingly showing many expressions, and T1 fans in particular, as well as the League of Legends community in general, must be cautious to avoid getting caught up in controversies or inappropriate content that could affect their idol players as well as the League of Legends community.