Riot Games apologized for a commentator's inappropriate comparison of Karmine Corp's mid-laner Kyeahoo to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu..

Riot Games announced on Thursday that it has apologized for the inappropriate public reaction sparked by a commentator's inappropriate comparison of Karmine Corp's mid-laner Kyeahoo to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a live LEC match broadcast.

According to Riot Games' official statement, the company deeply regrets its oversight in allowing an employee to make such an inappropriate comment in public and apologizes to all viewers who were offended.

The company also apologizes to Karmine Corp and Kyeahoo for being unjustly dragged into the controversy due to the commentator's careless remarks. Going forward, the company will strengthen its training and reporting procedures in this area to prevent similar incidents from recurring.

The incident stemmed from a recent LEC Spring match between Karmine Corp and Heretics.

In this match, decided in just 24 minutes, Karmine Corp easily defeated Heretics 2-0 thanks to their outstanding performance.

However, the aforementioned inappropriate incident occurred during the second round of the match. At the time, the match was being streamed live on Riot Games' official YouTube channel, and a highly inappropriate comment appeared in the live chat.

In this comment, a fan brazenly combined Kyeahoo's ID with the name of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, jokingly calling him "Netenyahoo," in recognition of Kyeahoo's excellent performance.

Although the inappropriateness of the comment was obvious at a glance, the commentator still chose to read it aloud.

Given that Netanyahu has been issued a arrest warrat by the International Criminal Court (ICC) since 2024 for directing the Israeli military's continued attacks on Palestinians, constituting genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and invasion, the commentator's actions were undoubtedly highly inappropriate.

Following the comment, Riot Games immediately faced a barrage of harsh criticism from netizens, including Karmine Corp CEO Kameto.

Kameto immediately expressed his disbelief on his official Twitch channel, saying, "Was the person responsible for selecting comments to read completely unaware? I really can't understand how this mistake could happen. We're in the professional League of Legends esports scene; shouldn't we at least have basic professional ethics?!"

Image source: Internet / LEC / Riot Games official website