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I May starting support Hankil "Road" Yoon has been a handed a one-game suspension and $2,000 fine for “repeated instances of moderate to severe verbal abuse and one instance of racially-insensitive rhetoric,” Riot Games announced in a competitive ruling early Saturday morning.
Road’s behavior issues had popped up earlier in the tournament on Reddit, when a chat transcript showing him telling Echo Fox mid laner Henrik “Froggen” Hansen repeatedly to “go die” in a North American ladder game.
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The 21-year-old Road apologized for his behavior in an interview with The Score, blaming it on his comfort with English and his stress levels.
"The words 'go die' that I said to the pro was not telling him to go die but it was because he had so many deaths and every time he went to mid, he would get ganked and die," he said. "My ability to communicate in English is very limited, which is why I said it that way."
Road said he became angry because he was stressed and "having a tough time mentally."
"I want to apologize to my coaches, teammates and the pro player for causing this kind of issue during the tournament," he said. "I will be cautious to make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again."
But this wasn’t an isolated incident. Even earlier, Road was found intentionally feeding as support Nunu on G2 mid laner Luka “Perkz” Perković’s stream.
The bigger concern, of course, is the racially insensitive language, which Riot says Road used twice during one game on September 19 on the Korean server. Here are the relevant rules Road violated, via Riot’s competitive ruling:
9.2.4 Discrimination and Denigration.
Team Members may not offend the dignity or integrity of a country, private person or group of people through contemptuous, discriminatory or denigrating words or actions on account of race, skin color, ethnic, national or social origin, gender, language, religion, political opinion or any other opinion, financial status, birth or any other status, sexual orientation or any other reason.
9.2.7 Player Behavior Investigation.
[If Riot] determines that a Team Member has violated the Summoner’s Code, the LoL Terms of Service, or other rules of LoL, Worlds officials may assign penalties at their sole discretion.