Peanut encounters a “hard to bear” experience for the first time since starting his League of Legends career
After many years of competition, having played for various major teams in both LCK and LPL, Peanut concluded his career journey with HLE at the end of the 2025 season. Since he began competing, Peanut has always been viewed as a model player in terms of professionalism and conduct both in and out of the game. However, recently, he was banned by Riot for 14 days due to suspected… game-throwing while climbing the ranks.
According to Peanut, the situation occurred in a ranked match where he played the Support position but ended up dying 14 times. Notably, Peanut surrendered multiple times, but the team refused to agree and insisted on dragging the match out. Until Peanut slumped in his chair and temporarily went AFK, he was penalized. Even more unfortunate for Peanut, this is the first time in over 14 years of competition that he has been banned for unsportsmanlike conduct, and the punishment came on the birthday of the former HLE captain.
Afterwards, Peanut had to write a letter to Riot asking for “clemency.” However, the publisher has yet to respond, and the former HLE star was forced to end his stream earlier than usual. Perhaps Peanut himself never expected to have this experience after leaving the professional League of Legends scene.
Not only Peanut but HLE is also struggling
Coincidentally, on the same day Peanut received his punishment from Riot, HLE also suffered a complete destruction by Gen.G and officially became the only team eliminated after the group stage of the LCK Cup 2026. While the results were somewhat bitter for HLE as they had managed to secure 2 wins throughout the group stage, it was also reasonable considering HLE had suffered an inexplicable defeat against the weaker opponent NS, thereby putting themselves in a difficult position.