League of Legends streamer Maks ‘Drututt’ Przychodzień recently revealed that his 14-day suspension from Twitch was due to his criticism of a particular emote in the Riot Games title.
The emote in question was the K’Sante cosmetic from Riot Games’ title, featuring the Black champion wearing a breathing mask and labeled “Lemme Breathe.” Drututt shared on social media that the ban, which was issued on August 30, stemmed from his remarks about the emote. He had said:
“Akali and rope Pingu emoji were bad, but taking a piss at George Floyd is okay I guess.”
Drututt elaborated further, explaining that his comment wasn’t mocking the tragedy itself but was rather directed at Riot Games, criticizing them for not realizing the potential insensitivity of the emote.
“Idk is this deserved? It’s not like I was laughing at the tragedy itself, but more of how stupid Riot is not to notice,”
The controversial K’Sante emote was part of a collection of cosmetics created by the Vietnamese esports organization Viking Esports, in collaboration with Riot Games. These cosmetics are designed by various League esports teams, and the profits are shared between Riot and the participating franchises.
Importantly, each cosmetic must go through Riot’s approval process before being added to the game. However, Riot has faced several issues with this cosmetic line, having to revise multiple designs for different reasons. Following the backlash, Riot altered the K’Sante emote, renaming it to “Cope’Sante.”
Initially, Drututt was furious about the 14-day ban, expressing his disbelief on social media. However, after less than two days, Twitch reversed the decision and unbanned him. Upon learning of his unban, Drututt jokingly responded, saying he was “reformed.”
Interestingly, Drututt’s unban came just a few days before Riot made changes to the emote he had criticized, which occurred on September 2. After being reinstated on Twitch, Drututt returned to his regular content, streaming League of Legends for his audience.