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In November 2021, former TSM player Doublelift accused the organization's owner, Reginald, of harassing and abusing its members. After the war of words between them, we heard little else until last week, when news broke that Riot Games and TSM were launching their own separate investigations into these allegations.
We will discuss the allegations against Reginald and the implications of these investigations for both him and one of the largest esports organizations in the world. Now, before I dive into this video, I just wanted to let you know that we've released the latest episode of our new show Every Second Counts, presented by Cisco.
In this episode, we detail the story of underdogs EDG, who defeated Damwon Gaming in the recent League of Legends World Championship finals. Click the link in the description below to watch the video. Okay, before we delve into the investigation, it's important to briefly cover the reason why they're happening now — the Doublelift allegations.
Doublelift has a long and well- documented history with Regi, and much of it has not been entirely harmonious. Between 2015 and 2021, Doublelift joined and left TSM several times: first as a player on their League of Legends team, and then as a streamer. Doublelift's final season as a TSM player ended with a disastrous 0-6 finish at Worlds, after which he left the team and retired.
He gave several personal reasons for this, including that winning the World Cup was unrealistic and simply getting out of the group was an unsatisfactory goal for him. Some people were surprised by his departure, especially since TSM was bringing in experienced Chinese support SwordArt at the time. But in November 2021, while still a streamer under the TSM brand, Doublelift criticized Reginald and TSM during a stream and shed light on what really happened.
Honestly, I [ __ ] hate TSM, mostly because of Andy. I actually remember it now. Yeah, SwordArt called me after that and said, "I'm going to TSM. Are you sure you like it...He still wants to play with me ." And then I called Andy and told him, "Yeah, SwordArt still wants to play with me." And I would be happy to, you know, continue playing for the organization.
And Andy literally said "no" because his ego is too big. Reginald responded with a Reddit post in which he denied Doublelift's version of events and stated that he believed Doublelift was, quote: " upset because we weren't interested in working with him." It was at this point that it turned from a public spat over a player leaving the team to something much more serious.
The next day, Doublelift made some rather disturbing allegations against his former boss. People don't like working with them. It's funny that he has such an arrogant attitude, because he's like a bully who gets away with everything because he's influential because people are afraid to stand up to him.
And that's what makes me sick . When I was talking to my friends last night on Discord, I realized that I was disgusted that someone who is essentially just a bully gets away with this because it's in everyone's best interest to not stand in his way. There have been rumors about Reggie's behavior for years, but nothing this serious, especially since it was coming from arguably the most famous LCS player of all time, who has seen many TSM rosters come and go over the years.
There were those who supported Doublelift's words, but there were also former players who either defended Reggie or at least tried to defuse the situation around him, which greatly shocked Doublelift. Even Cloud9 owner Jack Etienne called Reggie's management style sharp and straightforward during the times he worked with him .
So, there was a huge uproar, and then everything seemed to die down until last week. That's when Riot shared an article in which Riot Games informed them via email, quote: "We are aware of the allegations made against the CEO/owner of TSM . As the league organizer, we have engaged the law firm of O'Melveny&Myers LLP to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations of misconduct by the leader of this team in accordance with the league's standard process." Riot also spoke with a number of TSM employees, one of whom claims to have been subjected to psychological abuse by Reggie.
Other people told them about the culture of fear that prevailed at TSM, about Reggie calling them stupid or worthless, or calling them after work to yell at them . One of Wyatt's sources claimed that Reggie brought the employee to tears at least once every two weeks. This confirmed what Doublelift said when we first covered this story back in November.
In fact, Doublelift said that Reggie's verbal abuse of players was enough to cause some of them to have nervous breakdowns. He made many players cry. I don't really want to name their names because I feel like it's not my story to tell. So I'll just say he made a lot of players cry. You'd be surprised as hell to know how many of your favorite familiar faces in the LCS have had actual nervous breakdowns because of how much they've been scolded and how harshly they've been verbally attacked.
When Doublelift made these allegations of psychological abuse against Reggie, we didn't hear back from him. But this time we got it when he replied to Wyatt via email . He said he has, and I quote, “extremely high expectations for myself, and I share those same high expectations with everyone I work with.
I have zero tolerance for low results. I am intense, passionate, focused, and tireless in my pursuit of victory. This is my nature. I set the bar extremely high, and when I feel someone is not performing up to par, I share that feedback directly and openly . I know I need to work on my pitching and I'm working on improving the way I communicate with the team and my surroundings.
"I support and fully cooperate with the independent investigations that are already underway, and I would welcome any recommendations from investigators." However, for some people, like Keijral, these recognitions were too little and too late. I had to work on my serve. Yeah, I don't know, I don't know, I don't like this "I know I need to work on my serve." If 10 years ago he hated Dyrus, and now he still does the same and says that in 10 years he needs to work on his serve.
Yes, I don't believe that. I don't believe in this [ __ ] , personally. A TSM representative also told Riot that they have launched an internal investigation involving an independent subcommittee with support from external lawyers and an independent investigator . They added that Reggie had recused himself from anything related to the scope, nature and findings of the investigation.
So, we have two investigations here. TSM's investigation has already been ridiculed on social media, with some in the community questioning how the company can actually prosecute its owner. It is now assumed that any real consequences will come from Riot's investigation and the legal team they hired to assist with it.
But is it fair to think so? Riot says their investigation began when Doublelift made his public statements back in November, but rumors of similar things happening within TSM have been circulating for years. And it wasn't just behind closed doors. In our last video, we showed examples of posts that were public for a long time.
One of them involved former TSM top laner Dyrus, who Reggie was picking off until he finally exploded. Why are you so... I'm playing a game, man. Leave me alone. Are you that rude then? Leave me alone. You're just being rude. Okay, then I'm sorry I was rude. I will be as polite as possible. You're still going.
Sorry for what I said. I apologize. Damn it, don't ever do that again. I said "sorry." Listen, how hard is it to accept an apology? You are acting like a little child. Another example was former TSM support Xpecial, who broke down in tears after a heated post-match argument with Reggie. I think you're the best support, that's why you went to All-Stars.
This is really obvious. It's really obvious, but you only do what you're good at, and my mechanics aren't that good. I'm really good at calling, it's my specialty, and when someone says their judgment is better than mine in any game, it really annoys me. I can't, I can't play well because that's what I spend most of my time on.
Perhaps the most famous case, with over 1 million views, is another argument between Reggie and Xspecial, where Reggie claims that WildTurtle, who was sitting next to him, was the main reason for the recent defeat. The biggest factor was Turtle. Okay. And you argue with me, argue with me. My fault. No.
You argue with me for no reason, and this argument is very annoying. And you've always done this, and it's starting to get pretty annoying. Okay. You've been doing this all the time lately, and it's so annoying. Some of these clips appeared back in the early stages of the team, when Reggie was not only the owner of the organization, but also one of the players on his team in the LCS.
Reggie was part owner, part player, and part friend to these TSM players all at the same time. This context has often been used to justify what we see in these clips —the “wild west” of esports, when things were less professional. But does that make such behavior acceptable ? Should Riot have investigated things like this years ago?
And we only know about these clips because they ended up on stream or in an old documentary series. The words of Doublelift and TSM staff, with whom Wired spoke, suggest that it could be much deeper, larger and fresher than it seems from these clips. And perhaps that's what caused Riot to get involved in this whole thing.
The question is , what will be the outcome of their investigation? If the allegations are true, will they punch Reggie , or will they go soft on the head of one of the biggest esports organizations in the LCS? Sure, Riot is more removed from its own investigation than TSM, but they're not completely independent of it either.
They have a direct interest in the success and reputation of LCS, and this will always cast doubt on any conclusion of their investigation. This raises the age-old question: who is monitoring those who are monitoring? Their engagement of an outside legal team shows that they are aware of this fact, but will this be enough to legitimize their conclusions in the eyes of the community?
In 2019, Riot issued an ultimatum to Echo Fox after their owner Rick Fox accused a shareholder of his company of racism. Either he leaves the organization or Echo Fox will be eliminated from the LCS. Echo Fox left the LCS of their own accord. This is the only real precedent for what Riot can and likely will do if their investigation confirms these allegations.
They will not have direct power over TSM, but can set their own boundaries and force them to act. We don't know when Riot will release the results of its ongoing investigation, but it all comes as they themselves are paying out $100 million to current and former employees as part of a settlement of a massive gender discrimination lawsuit.
According to their own set of rules, they have the right to conduct this investigation and make a decision. But will the community recognize their moral legitimacy when their own reputation for treating employees is, to put it mildly , ruined? As for the results of TSM's internal investigation, they are expected to be released later this month.
When that happens, we will have something to talk about, because this story is far from over.
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