One of the biggest League of Legends streamers has been removed from Riot’s partnership program.
Former Team Liquid League player and streamer IWillDominate told his Twitch viewers today Riot Games removed him from the League partnership program (LPP), meaning he can no longer co-stream the LCS or Academy games. Additionally, he no longer has access to League Unlocked.
IWillDominate showed his viewers the statement he received from Riot regarding his removal. “Recently, our system flagged statements made on your social media account that violated our policies, and desire to foster a safe and inclusive community,” the statement reads.
Since IWillDominate was on probation at the time of these “statements,” he has been removed from the program entirely. Riot did not show him which statements had broken the LPP guidelines, however.
“I got this today, I don’t know why, I’m trying to talk to them,” he said. “This is something I love doing, what I’m passionate about.”
Fellow Twitch streamer Yassuo, alongside plenty of IWillDominate’s fans, have called for Riot to reinstate his status in the LPP. “#FREEDOM, #FREEIWD #FREETHECRACKHEAD #FREEMYBOY” Yassuo said on Twitter.
This isn’t the first time Riot has caused controversy by penalizing a prominent LoL community figure. In June, Riot put former Cloud9 mid laner Hai on probation in the League Partnership Program because of a chat restriction. The statement said he would be removed from the program if he didn’t behave in accordance with the guidelines within the next three months.
Before joining Dignitas, IWillDominate played for Complexity/Too Tricky. On December 4, 2012, all of his accounts were permanently banned from League of Legends due to toxic behavior and he was subsequently suspended from the League Championship Series for one year.
IWillDominate took it as an opportunity for self-improvement and has since reformed from his formerly toxic ways. His quest to redemption started with the creation of a new account with the name “IWDomínate” and the subsequent climb to a 2.2k Elo rating. Upon reaching that milestone, he started streaming.
Although IWillDominate had been banned from the LCS, he was still able to compete in other events unrelated to LCS.
On July 7, 2013, around one week after losing to FXOpen e-Sports 1-2 in the semifinals of the MLG Spring Championship, I Will Dominate announced his break from competitive play. He will still be living at the curse house as coach/analyst for Curse Academy and backup coach for Team Curse.
In October 2013, Dominate would rejoin the the competitive scene as a player as it was announced he would be the jungler for Curse Gaming.
On November 7, 2013, IWillDominate’s LCS ban was officially lifted and he became a pro for a couple of years before retiring.
