Malice comes to defence of LS, breaks silence over Untara tweet controversy

Various personalities from the world of League of Legends have defended LS after news of his decision to join T1 for the 2021 season was accidentally leaked on-stream by T1 support Lee “Effort” Sang-ho causing sections of T1's fanbase to harass the coach and caster.

Sebastian “Malice” Edholm, the controversial figure who contributed much to the idea of LS being racist, confronted his own past and joined others in defending LS in a statement he released on Sunday.

Regarding the recent accusations and allegations towards LS and my side

Read: https://t.co/lBrchLjdm5

— Malice (@LolMalice) November 8, 2020

Titled “Regarding the recent accusations and allegations towards LS and my side”, Malice noted that he had been “an edgy f*ck with no filter” in the past but reminded the community that he had repeatedly apologized for his past behavior.

Upon being criticized by former SKT top laner Park “Untara” Ui-jin for being toxic even by the standards of Korean solo queue, LS defended Malice in a series of now-deleted tweets and asked Untara if he was exaggerating Malice’s behavior just to get “some clickbait views,” and in the Korean version of the Tweet, further asked if Untara “enjoyed tormenting a foreigner.” 

(Picture: @LSXYZ9)

“LS’ tweets replying to Untara, that so many people seem hold against him, funnily enough weren’t even written by LS,” Malice recalled. “It was asked for and done by BBQ. He can’t write in Korean and his Korean isn’t nearly that good.”

He further spoke to LS’ character, having taken in multiple players into his homeand providing them with computers to get them back on their feet and expressed a belief that “he is undoubtedly the, or one of the best coaches in the world.” Malice concluded his thoughts by apologizing for his past behavior and asking fans to not punish LS for association with him. 

• Read more: T1 respond to backlash over rumoured signing of LS and Polt

Malice was well-known as a toxic solo queue player in Korea to the point where the bbq Olivers organization publicly apologized for his actions. He had been reported multiple times by professional players who noted his toxicity and reported him out of exasperation, including renowned names like Cho “Mata” Se-hyeong and Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk. Even Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok muted him on-sight, an uncharacteristic action for the three-time world champion. 

Malice has sought to defend LS after the latter faced vitoral from some fans of T1. (Picture: Riot Games)

But if Malice’s words are true, then this removes much, if not all, of the basis that Korean fans have animosity for LS. They cannot blame the former caster for tweets that he did not write and few would argue that his analysis has not been widely influential in the professional scene.

• Read more: Furious T1 fans park truck outside team's Seoul HQ in protest at poor management

While there remains the argument that LS is still relatively untested in comparison to previous T1 coaches like Kkoma, Kim, and Zefa, LS -- notably engaged for several years to a Korean -- may not be the racist that certain fans see him to be. T1 fans should wish LS the best in his new coaching role, because from now on, his success is also T1’s success.