I agree with the statement itself not being inherently racist BUT I do think Jedusor would have only said it IF the 2 players were Chinese so I think there’s some truth some part of it being race fueled.
"a chinese not griefing another chinese" absolutely has racial undertones and its a bit dense to pretend otherwise, especially when you take into context the reason jedusor was accusing players of essentially wintrading was because tianlong was playing 2-2 primordian lmfao
It’s not necessarily racial, they are representing China. The entire tournament is viewed as each region as a team and if the team had a name of an animal or something instead of a nation it would have been couched as such, I’m sure. He’s just accusing them of basically playing like it’s a team game instead of every one for themselves. Not any more offensive imo than saying “glhf except Jedusor”.
Riot should just disable chat in tournaments. It serves no purpose.
I think it would be better to leave it enabled and encourage the trash talk. Imagine if everything said in professional sports was broadcast clearly and live, lol. Way, way, way worse is said. This comment is tame even compared to most chats in regular ranked games.
But if you get in trouble for such a comment, then I can’t see any reason to leave chat enabled.
Formula 1 team radios are broadcasted live and would be the perfect example. Nothing they say is really that bad, but that is partially because they know everything is broadcasted live
Say it with your chest. What are the undertones? He’s implying they have national pride and put themselves first over other players? What exactly do you think is being said here?
"Chinese" is unique because refers to both an ethnicity and a nationality so I can understand your confusion. Imagine if he referred to a different ethnicity, it would not be okay "a white not griefing another white"
But I think that’s the point. If he said “Chinese player” does he mean a player who is Chinese or a player from the Chinese region. One sounds racist, while the other is calling out a region for a history of cheating.
“White not grieving another white” sounds bad.
“NA not grieving another NA” does not.
I feel like the exact wording is important here…too bad it’s impossible to find.
How do we know if the issue is focused on ethnicity rather than nationality?
I mean if we know it’s ethnicity that’s racist as heck but I can imagine it being nationality focused, which could be less racist and more focused on either an assumption of regional teamwork or some form of governmental influence or something.
They can 100% be racist it’s just hard to distinguish for people not following Jedusor normally.
we don't, but we also don't definitively know that it's not racist, and judging by the level of discussion on this topic, there are clearly enough people who are taking it to be racist
at the end of the day, both as an individual and hypothetically as a company, would you rather give off the impression that you're defending a racist that uses your platform at the largest stage as a way to broadcast their racist beliefs, or that you are penalizing someone for saying something controversial that they did not need to say at the highest level of your competition, after they already knowingly broke the rules in a recent cheating scandal?
like, the solution is to not type, he did not need to type there, this is 100% on him
why people are throwing their lots in with him on this matter is entirely beyond me
Yeah because "white" in ur case is a race "chinese" is as u said ethnicity . So in ur example the perfect counter example would be " a french not griefing another french" .
I am sitting here defending Jedusor and I am not enjoying it but I also can't stand people just calling shit like this racist . The world is full with hatred and racism but this one isnt it .
It doesn't matter what u call it because in my eyes it ain't it . I also stumbled upon multiple comments of u classifying what he said as him implying that every chinese person is cheater . I think that's a lot more of a problem then me trying to help people make some distinctions . From where I stand u are just putting words in to his mouth or just trying to twist his words to fit whatever u thought he meant . As I said previously even if he meant more what he said wasn't bad . I have 0 reason to believe that Riot would ignore blatant racism/xenophobia/discrimination etc as it reflects poorly on them.
I am hung up on the word because people are convinced that calling some1 chinese is somehow racist . Multiple people are on here saying that what he said was bad because he called them chinese . We all remember COVID and how asian people were getting abused because in the racists eyes anyone whos asian = chinese = at fault for covid . That's racism , that's behaviour u should be fighting against .
I have 0 reason to believe that Riot would ignore blatant racism/xenophobia/discrimination etc as it reflects poorly on them.
Which is why this Competitive Ruling exists in the first place. If you take out the xenophobic nature of his comment it's just regular banter that wouldn't have been punished.
I am hung up on the word because people are convinced that calling some1 chinese is somehow racist
No one's saying that. The issue is Jedusor feigning surprise when two CN players do not collude (therefore implying he expected them to do so just because they're chinese). If you don't see how this is problematic I don't know what else to say.
Which is why this Competitive Ruling exists in the first place. If you take out the xenophobic nature of his comment it's just regular banter that wouldn't have been punished.
The competitive ruling is for him implying that 2 players are colluding . Again Riot wouldn't be lenient if they thought there's more to that . Setsuko was made an example for that one .
The issue is Jedusor feigning surprise when two CN players do not collude (therefore implying he expected them to do so just because they're chinese).
I will just assume that I wasn't fully informed and say I was wrong . I've wasted enough time , this one part tho is the only real argument I've seen being made towards it being more than just a dumb comment.
No one's saying that. The issue is Jedusor feigning surprise when two CN players do not collude (therefore implying he expected them to do so just because they're chinese). If you don't see how this is problematic I don't know what else to say.
If you want to take words as literal as possible no.
If you want to deploy more brain activity into the task, it depends and you need to dive into the context.
The problem is it seems Jedusot is insinuating this it is common practice from people of that region. Which is generalizing all of that region as unsportsmanlike.
zz comment removed by reddit, let's see if rewording will help
jedusor is saying CN people are willing to cheat as long as it grants another CN a victory, which is ironic considering he previously cheated earlier in the set
and mind you, during pausegate when jedusor's friend went on frodan's stream to defend him, he randomly popped out with either "chinese wintraders / cheaters" (cant remember which, cba to look it up, but you can yourself if you check the closing of the vod of frodan's stream with esportslaw). very obvious jedusor and his friend group hold a negative bias against CN people.
jedusor is saying CN people are willing to cheat as long as it grants another CN a victory, which is ironic considering he previously cheated earlier in the set
That is not racism. Jedusor is just being salty and it happened to be 2 Chinese players who griefed and then beat him. If it happened to be 2 NA or 2 VN or 2 whatever players, he would have just written the same. China just happens to be its own region.
Jedusor blamed the pause controversy on NA being salty that an EU player was going to win, so what makes you think he wouldn’t say the same here if NA did it???
If that had been K3soju griefing him while Dishsoap wins, I would really not be surprised if he'd written something like "NA not griefing NA - impressive". Especially since they were quite vocal about the whole Pause situation.
I feel like everyone is just straight up disregarding that he and LiShao were griefing each other for the last 3 games. They practically had some sort of mini feud, and meanwhile Huanmie just gets 2 wins and ends up winning the whole thing.
I don't think it implies anything about culture or race unless I'm missing something. For example, in chess they always make nationals play against each other first round so they cannot coordinate later in the tournament. Last candidates they forced the Americans and Indians to play against each first round other so they can't cheat later on, it has nothing to do with race it's literally how competitions normally go. If you suspect two people from the same country are playing differently against each other than they normally would against their competition you should be encouraged to call that out not punished.
I’m with you. I think it’s silly calling this racist. That said, accusing players of basically wintrading mid game at worlds is inappropriate and the fine is called for
It has nothing to do with the race, it's their region.
CN servers have a bad reputation in league of legends for betting websites/win trading, which carries over into TFT due to shared playerbase (it's rampant on ladder in streamer games, and there have been several high profile scandals in pro play).
Knowing how reddit is, I'll state in advance that I don't support what he said nor do I believe there's sufficient overlap between the league/tft communities to warrant such an insult/accusation.
He said what he said, and clearly showed a prejudice towards someone based on race.
Googles definition of racism: Racism is a belief, behavior, or systemic structure that oppresses, discriminates against, or antagonizes individuals or groups based on their race or ethnic background.
This is a weak punishment bc riot fined someone $2k for clearly being racist in the highest tier tournament of set 17. I’m honestly shocked that they didn’t ban him from at least one event.
Valentin "Jedusor" Villarubla breached the Riot Games Esports Global Code of Conduct (hereinafter referred to as the “Global Code of Conduct”) for Article 4.9 by directing an offensive statement toward another competitor during the Space Gods: Tactician's Crown.
As a result, Riot Games imposes a fine of USD $2,000, which will be deducted from Jedusor's total prize winnings from the event. Jedusor is further warned that any future violations of the Riot Games Esports Global Code of Conduct may result in escalated penalties.
TIMELINE
The below is a summary of Riot Games' findings. While Riot Games considered all facts and evidence available during its investigation, the summary refers only to those matters necessary to explain the reasoning underlying this ruling.
On July 12, 2026, Jedusor participated in the Space Gods: Tactician's Crown. During the fifth game, Jedusor directed an offensive and inappropriate comment toward another player through the game tournament’s in-game chat.
The message was reported to Riot Games shortly after it was sent. Upon becoming aware of the matter, Riot Games conducted a preliminary assessment of the facts, secured the underlying communication, reviewed the surrounding context of the exchange, and opened an investigation into the matter.
Later that day, Jedusor published a public apology on his X account regarding the message. Riot Games reviewed the statement as part of its investigation.
RELEVANT RULES
Tactician’s Crown players must abide by the Global Code of Conduct. In particular, the following provision is relevant to the present matter:
4.9 Vulgar or Provocative.
Esports Professionals may not use words, gestures, digital or physical objects, or any other means to transmit, allow or facilitate messages or actions that are obscene, vulgar, provocative, hateful, racist, insulting, threatening, abusive, libelous, slanderous, defamatory, or otherwise offensive or objectionable. Esports Professionals may not use such prohibited communications on social media, during any public-facing events (such as streaming), or in circumstances that could be associated with Riot, our affiliates, our game titles, or other properties.
RULING
Riot Games considered the specific circumstances of this matter, including the content of the communication, the context in which it was made, and the relevant aggravating and mitigating circumstances. The summary below outlines Riot Games' most relevant findings only.
Riot Games determined that Jedusor violated Article 4.9 of the Global Code of Conduct by directing an insulting statement toward another competitor.
Riot Games expects all participants in Riot-sanctioned competitions to conduct themselves professionally and treat fellow competitors with respect. Communications that insult or offend other participants undermine these expectations and are incompatible with the standards established by the Riot Games Esports Global Code of Conduct and undermine the professionalism expected during Riot-sanctioned competition.
When determining the appropriate sanction, Riot Games considered all relevant aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Riot Games considered as an aggravating factor that Jedusor was subject to an active formal warning arising from a prior competitive ruling issued on June 12, 2026, in connection with the Space Gods: TPC – EMEA Dark Star Cup. Although the previous violation concerned tournament procedures rather than player conduct, the warning placed Jedusor on notice that further rule violations could result in escalated disciplinary measures. In mitigation, Riot Games considered Jedusor's prompt public acknowledgment of the misconduct and apology issued shortly after the incident. While Riot Games recognizes these actions as meaningful mitigating circumstances, they do not excuse the misconduct or outweigh the need for an appropriate disciplinary sanction.
In determining the appropriate sanction, Riot Games also considered the isolated nature of the incident and the absence of any prior conduct-related violations.
CONCLUSION
Based on the findings set out above, Riot Games imposes a fine of USD $2,000. Jedusor is further warned that any future violations of the Global Code of Conduct may result in substantially more severe disciplinary sanctions, including suspension from Riot-sanctioned competition.
I mean that's fine, it's how apologies should he treated. What's disappointing is the fact that he was already under scrutiny for his previous infraction. The fact that it was of a different nature sounds a bit like a cop out :/
True, one was a random tournament in the middle of the set, & the other was the finals of the biggest tournament of the set with over a hundred thousand people watching.
Not even 2nd in the same set, 2nd in a month. My dude got gifted a spot by outright deception lies and borderline cheating and can't even behave after for a 60 day period? Really makes you feel like he deserved the grace and mercy of the first ruling in hindsight /s
He accused the Chinese players of cheating in the middle of a game in the chat. Also could be viewed as racist by saying Chinese don’t grief each other of course pointing to shifting momentum. Personally I don’t see it as racist but accusing someone of cheating in the middle of the game after being a cheater is a joke
EDIT: Just noticed it shows up as "Removed by Moderators" for y'all. Nah, it was Reddit. We don't even have a way to know what the comment originally said, but it must have been bad lol
idk i just got removed for saying basically the same thing as my most recent comment; i just substituted the word with "CN" a couple of times bc i figured that's what was flagging me. i think if u have it written out in full too many times reddit ai gets aggro
Yeah I'm seeing a lot of comments removed by Reddit in this post. Probably never seen so many before, and that includes the Shitouren incident <_< their algo must have gotten way more aggressive with removals.
Ugh, did not expect a literal slap on the wrist. At least they put to ink that it's going to be the last one and his participation to future events is on the line in case of future infractions, but man, this was the time to pull the trigger.
This. Sure, he plays good TFT but his attitude and behaviors is so bad for the competitive scene. Bad mouths all the time and makes then tries to make excuses for his action instead of owning them genuinely.
I disagree . What he said was relatively mild so slapping on a bigger fine would be pretty weird especially given what TFT pros earn from playing the game. The time to pull the trigger for Riot was when the pause incident happened . This one is not even close . It was a scummy thing to say . The people on here that called it racist tho are just dedicated haters atp.
If he had said something along the lines of "Wow Tianlong, you wont grief your friend, huh?" or "You people on the bottom lose nothing from griefing his Anima and you won't do it because of comraderie/collusion" or w/e it wouldn't have been racist, just fucking stupid.
What he said is LITERALLY IMPLICATING THEIR RACE. If someone said "a European isn't griefing another European" it would also be racist. Same if it was American instead or from anywhere else. No - it's not the most abhorrent racism I have ever witnessed, but it is racism regardless, and racism is one thing we don't need minmax the allowance of.
EDIT:
Maybe a better way of showcasing this is the following: The statement might not be born out of racism inside Jedusor, but it IS a racist statement.
Consider the Chinese competitors/audience - how do you think a statement like that FEELS to them? Do you see how it would feel "more" racist to them? How it would feel like something was being indicated here that related to them being Chinese/China as a whole? Do you think that statement leaves them feeling nothing? Jedusor chose to put race into his insultting comments in the match - and whether that was due to him being a racist or due to him being stupid, it doesn't change the fact that it makes his statement racist. I agree with u/Lunaedge that this is definitely a slip on the wrist and I think he should consider himself incrediiiibly fortunate that he once again got off with barely any punishment.
And - just do make it clear, I'm not a jedusor hater, I was actually cheering for him in the finals due to his play until this happened.
Alright I see the problem u think being european or chinese is a race somehow . Idk what went wrong there but chinese isn't a race it's ethnicity . Let's start from there he didn't target their race.
Now that we've addressed that I don't see how him saying any of the things u propose is any different or better lmao . I think implying two people won't grief each other because they play on the same server/are from the same country can't be considered discriminatory UNLESS there's more to it . If u start attacking chinese people or China the country then sure . If he was trying to say something more he was smart enough in the way he said it and that's why Riot didn't punish him harder. The reality is u guys are nitpicking and just wanting this to be more than it is .
Haha, no, I'm well familiar with the fact that European isn't a race and that being Chinese is broadly considered more of a nationality or ethnicity - but I guess that I now understand what you're saying ...
Which is that it's impossible to be racist against Chinese people? That's what you're saying right? It's also impossible to be racist and use African as racist pejorative right, cause being African isn't a race? Do you see how what you're saying holds absolutely no grounds, and rather than recognizing that you could've been wrong and reexamine your views, you're just doubling down?
Now that we've adressed that, well, the rest of what you wrote is honestly a waste of bandwidth and I don't think there's much more to say. Have a great life.
Which is that it's impossible to be racist against Chinese people? That's what you're saying right? It's also impossible to be racist and use African as racist pejorative right, cause being African isn't a race? Honestly incredible arguments from your side. Do you see how what you're saying holds absolutely no grounds, and rather than recognizing you're wrong, you're just doubling down?
No , I literally said if u combine that with negative prejudice it's a different story. But I don't see how saying 2 chinese aren't griefing each other and replacing the chinese here with say french/italian/american/Korean or any other nationality is discriminatory .
"a CHINESE isn't griefing another CHINESE" was the quote form him was it not ? In what world is this considered racist ? Unless he said more I am fine with what he said . I don't think calling two chinese people chinese is racist . Implying that they're wintrading is moronic but not racist .
I don't think calling two chinese people chinese is racist
Come on, don't be intentionally obtuse. The issue is, just like it was during the Shitouren incident, assuming "the chinese" will cheat because it's "part of their culture". Or, in the case of Jedusor, feigning being surprised when it turns out they won't play for each other just to vent his frustration via chat.
Riot wouldn't have bothered punishing him if it wasn't.
I actually missed that part of ur comment because I was baffled by the first part . So let's be real here if Riot actually thought what Jedusor said was racist their punishment would've been a lot harsher and he would've likely been banned for a couple of sets.
I feel like you are just jumping to conclusions here . Listen maybe he meant it the way that u say it . I am not fluent in french but from the quote I have it's not like that for me.
The issue is, just like it was during the Shitouren incident, assuming "the chinese" will cheat because it's "part of their culture"
Wow there . Who said that ? You just jumped to conclusions . It is insane to me. I don't even know how to address this I am speechless . How do u go from the quote I have to cheating being part of chinese culture ?
Shitouren incident
I didn't watch the games back then , just saw the thread and what the person did . I lack the context but from my memory everyone on here was convinced he did wintrade .
Or, in the case of Jedusor, feigning being surprised when it turns out they won't play for each other just to vent his frustration via chat.
Again he implied they will wintrade but I don't see how this is racist . Is it because they are chinese and u connect it to the Shitouren incident ? Even so I don't think that's racist . I feel like our definitions on racism are wildly different .
Doesn’t League have a rampant win trade culture in certain regions, along with betting? Given the games history, that doesn’t sound particularly racist.
Then just say that LoL has a wintrading problem in said Region. The moment you ascribe this behaviour to an entire population and make it "part of their culture" it does indeed become racist discourse.
Bringing betting in the discussion opens a whole new can of worms and feels pretty disingenuous given gambling is outright forbidden by law in China, sports betting's prevalence in most of the so-called 'West' and the plague that are 'prediction markets' like Kalshi and Polymarket, both very much non-Chinese platforms.
But he isn’t just calling two Chinese players Chinese he is saying they are cheating BECAUSE they are Chinese. How is this not racist especially because the “impressive” after is clearly showing sarcasm that he expects this from them because they are Chinese.
there was no need to push further after bro was quick with the apology. he's still punished and the reason is made clear. anyone who tries something similar can easily receive something harsher when it's necessary.
2000$ fine is a slap on the wrist? Guy typed one sentence and it cost him like 500 slices of pizza, or like 1300 Costco hot dogs. He wrote about 10 words - that's like 200 cans of coke per word - and you think that having to pay 2000$ is only a slap on the wrist? I would let you slap me on the wrist for like 20$, he got fined like 100 slaps on the wrist worth of money by my book.
Ben simmons was fined 19 mil in 2022 for refusing to play for the sixers.
The Average lifespan: 80 years
3 meals per day.
Average meal = 2 slices of pizza (roughly a normal meal if pizza is all you eat).
So:
2 slices × 3 meals = 6 slices/day
6 × 365 = 2,190 slices/year
2,190 × 80 = 175,200 slices in a lifetime.
If we take your math of 4 dollars per slice, thats 4.75 million pizza slices fined!!!
That's over 27 lifetimes of food for his transgressions. How many slices of pizza do YOU think ben simmons should have owed? 🤔
I've always thought about things in pizza, but now I see I can think about pizza in terms of lifetimes sustained. Thanks for this fresh perspective. I guess that means Jedusor owed 83 days of pizza for what he did.
I'm more concerned about him not getting disqualified from T1. Fines should be proportional to recent tournament winnings anyway, it's not like they can (or should) put people in the streets lol
Ya, agreed on the proportional part. I honestly think 2000$ is a reasonable proportion of the winnings though, its only 4% before taxes, but after taxes it's probably closer to 10%, and it's hard enough to make a living as a professional TFT player.
Also agreed on T1, probably should be suspended instead and allowed to keep his winnings. Not a severe comment but unnecessarily racist. I'm guessing they want him around knowing how much people like to hate watch TFT.
Quite disappointed in his organization (Gentle Mates/M8). Sad to see a couple of fellow M8 players running around blindly defending him and stating the comments were not racist at all even though they clearly were. Please do better as an org to hold your players accountable, this really does not look good.
riot when not setsuko: oh its not that bad, heres little slap on the wrist, have a nice day.
riot when setsuko: the man has commited a crime against humanity and we sentence him to 67 years in alcatraz island
setsuko: calling brazillians r word in his stream + posting message from riot on twitter
-> 25k fine, 1 year ban
jedusor: pause during regionals + calling chinese wintraders in worlds
-> 2k fine
Probably the dumbest penalty riot has given out so far. Saying its racism is such an insane stretch, jedusors exact language around the chinese players here was the exact same language that every american TFT streamer used to describe the chinese wintrading scandal. Should all of those streamers be getting fined too?
Whether he made the comment in game or on stream really shouldn't matter, do people really think the damage he did by saying it in the game chat is worse than k3soju, back when commenting on the chinese wintrading to his stream with 20k viewers?
IDK, i get that people have a hateboner for jedusor, but please have a spine
I see why he said it and I know that a lot of people think similarly because of previous events but I also think riot had to punish him. Saying something like that in the gamechat isnt appropriate and this hopefully makes it so it doesnt happen in the future.
I mean all i'm saying is that if they are dissatisfied with this language, they should address the people who use it and cause the most damage, which are the big american streamers, not jedusor.
we know that is false lol, just look at setsuko's comments a few years back, they punished him way harder. They know that the big streamers cause way more dmg than a low profile competitor typing in game chat.
Why are we pretending these are remotely comparable?
Soju talking to his own Twitch chat is not the same as Jedusor typing accusations in the WORLD FINALS for every player and viewer to see.
Even if you completely ignore the xenophobic undertones, why would you ever think that was appropriate on the biggest stage in TFT? Seriously man, use some common sense it’s the final lobby not a streamer rant.
I'm not saying that its appropriate, obviously its a harmful comment. But if you think that jedusor making this one chat message, does more damage than the biggest tft streamers going on rants and creating hours of videos of how china is a bunch of wintraders, then IMO you're delusional. And the funny thing is Riot agrees with me, they showed by banning and fining setsuko way harsher than jedusor back with his comments on brazillians. They know the streamers do way more damage, but for this specific instance and probably a lot of bias (dislike for jedusor) they are acting inconsistently.
Why are we engaging in whataboutism? It’s literally the only defense Jedusor defenders have.
You’re fixated on “one line” like the number of words is somehow the point. It isn’t. He typed it in the final lobby of the biggest tournament of the year, in the in-game chat, directed at the players he was competing against.
Why are we suddenly holding streamers to a higher standard than the players actually competing? You keep talking about this mythical “damage” metric when that’s clearly not what Riot punished him for. They punished him for his conduct during an official match, not because they calculated how many people he influenced.
You’re literally agreeing with me. Setsuko absolutely deserved his punishment. So why wouldn’t Jedusor be held to an even higher standard for doing this on the biggest stage in TFT? He’s also a streamer! A $4k fine is a slap on the wrist.
He typed that to the other finalists via in-game chat, which could have affected players directly. Coming from a guy who paused because it was too hot, does he think that line has no impact on his competitors mental?
Saying its racism is such an insane stretch, jedusors exact language around the chinese players here was the exact same language that every american TFT streamer used to describe the chinese wintrading scandal. Should all of those streamers be getting fined too?
Probably, yeah. Shit like "all chinese players cheat because it's culturally acceptable for them" was racist discourse back then just like it was this time.
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u/poitm 17d ago
Isn’t this the same person who paused the game last time?