The day before
Groups
Day 1 began, the LEC’s Fnatic announced that Elias “Upset” Lipp will not be playing in the tournament. Fnatic’s statement made clear it was a family emergency. In response, former Fnatic player and current streamer Tim “Nemesis” Lipovšek made tone-deaf comments doubting the veracity of Fnatic’s explanation, causing some backlash.
Fnatic tweeted on October 10 that Upset was having an “urgent family matter” that meant he would have to return home and couldn’t play in the group stage.
Shortly after the statement, screenshots from a Discord chat Nemesis was participating in were posted on
Reddit. In it, Nemesis casts doubt on Fnatic Upset having a genuine family emergency. This response immediately drew pushback from fans, who saw Nemesis’ comments as petty and tone-deaf. Using past grievances with an organization to speculate on another player’s private life rubbed many fans the wrong way.
Nemesis, who used to play for Fnatic, claimed that the organization used to make excuses for internal conflicts similar to Fnatic’s statement. But even inside of the screenshots, members of Nemesis’ community find the comments off-putting. Laughing at Upset’s misfortune and doubting the truth was a step too far for many fans, and the responses made that clear.
Nemesis continued to double down on his aspersions after the threads had become popular, saying he didn’t know anything concrete didn’t excuse the accusations from many fans. Nemesis clearly stated he does not believe public statements in this vein, and seemed to dismiss the community backlash as unreasonable.
Nemesis has yet to address the community’s response in a capacity more formal than Discord. He had previously tweeted trying to laugh it off, but promptly deleted the thread and has made no comment since. However he chooses to respond, he’s already lost a lot of goodwill with the community.
Nicholas James
About Nicholas James
Nicholas James is a gaming writer with a passion for all things geekdom, as well as live theater. Nicholas is best known for covering League of Legends and other top MOBA titles, but his expertise covers numerous games across multiple genres. When not watching the LCS or playing the latest new release, Nicholas can be found doing some tabletop gaming and painting his favorite miniatures. Nicholas has also published with Hotspawn, TheGamer, Dexerto, Esports.gg and other industry outlets.
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