Esports organizers love telling teams to build heated regional rivalries, create content, and put on a show for the fans. That is, until the teams actually do it. Riot Games officially stepped into the principal’s office on June 1, handing out a fresh batch of financial penalties to Karmine Corp, Movistar KOI, and midlaner Joseph “Jojopyun” Pyun following a highly explosive weekend at the LEC Roadtrip event in Madrid.
The trouble kicked off three weeks ago when an online clip surfaced criticizing the opening match attendance. Instead of ignoring the bait, Movistar KOI founder Ibai Llanos jumped on X to declare that, considering how awful KC’s level was, the crowd size actually seemed a bit high.
Naturally, Karmine Corp founder Kameto did not take kindly to his fan base being dragged. He fired back on stream, engaged in a very public digital shouting match, and promptly canceled a highly anticipated showmatch between the two organizations.
A Two-Thousand Euro Swear Word
Riot took a look at the resulting internet firestorm and decided that public corporate bickering crossed the line into “Conduct unbecoming of an LEC team member.” Both organizations were handed a €5,000 ($5,799.18) invoice and a formal warning, first reported by Sheep Esports.
It turns out hosting a giant arena event on your home soil is a great way to build hype, but it is also a fantastic way to accidentally get your wallet lightened by the league publisher.
The corporate suits were not the only ones paying the toxicity tax. Movistar KOI midlaner Jojopyun managed to catch a €2,000 ($2,319.67) penalty of his own. While KC’s star rookie Caliste got away scot-free for physically shushing the crowd after a pentakill, Jojopyun chose to use his post-match broadcast interview to aggressively declare exactly how hard his team was going to demolish KC in the next game.
“We are gonna f**k KC so hard the next game,” he said.
This marks Jojopyun’s second formal warning for explicit on-broadcast language in less than twelve months, making him the only member on his team currently holding an active disciplinary record. The timing of these fines adds a beautiful layer of tension to the competitive calendar.
The two teams are scheduled to face off in a high-stakes best-of-five series this Saturday. The winner gets a spot in the split finals and an explicit invitation to the Mid-Season Invitational, meaning the actual trash talk on stage is likely to be far more expensive than anything we saw in Madrid.