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Riot Games asks League of Legends esports players to not discuss politics during broadcasts

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 2 min

Riot Games said that esports players and “shout casters” participating in the 2019 League of Legends World Championships should not discuss personal views on sensitive issues, such as the Hong Kong protests, during broadcasts.

The move echoes one made by Blizzard Entertainment when it cracked down on an esports player who brought up the Hong Kong protests during a Hearthstone broadcast interview. Like Blizzard, Riot gets a lot of revenue from China and it is prepared to risk that money by giving players a platform for raising hell with the Chinese crackdown. On top of that, brands are often loathe to be associated with anything to do with politics at sporting and entertainment events.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.