TL;DR

• During routine toxicity checks prior to the 2018 NA LCS Spring Split, Tanner “Damonte” Damonte’s account was flagged for activity that we believed was unbecoming of a professional player, but below the threshold for which he should be fined or suspended;
• On January 29, 2018, Echo Fox was notified about Damonte’s conduct, Damonte was issued a warning about his behavior, was put on a one-year probation and his accounts were put on a heightened review, whereby they were reviewed for toxicity several times during the split;
• On May 24, 2018, Damonte’s account was flagged by the Korea player support team for toxic behavior on the KR server during a team boot camp.
• After a review of the chat logs by NA LCS officials, Damonte’s KR bootcamp account was disabled and Damonte is being issued a 5-game suspension for this incident.

CONTEXT

In January 2018, during the routine toxicity checks performed on all NA LCS and Academy (NA LACS) player accounts, the account of Tanner “Damonte” Damonte was identified as exhibiting behavior which was unbecoming of a professional player. After extensive review of his chat logs, the NA LCS issued Damonte a warning on January 29, 2018, advising Damonte and Echo Fox that:

• Damonte was being placed on probation for one year and would have his account regularly checked for toxicity during that period of time;
• Any toxic behavior during the probation period would draw an enhanced punishment as a second offense.

On January 30, 2018, a member of the NA LCS player management team spoke with Damonte to explain why his account was flagged, how he should act going forward, what is and is not acceptable and potential penalties going forward. We believed it was important to make sure that Damonte understood the League’s position, had the opportunity to ask any questions he had and to provide any additional information of which the League should be aware. The warning and probation period was specifically identified as an opportunity for Damonte to clean up his in-game behavior.

Several toxicity checks during the Spring Split returned no additional areas of concern for Damonte’s accounts.

During the break between Spring and Summer Splits, Damonte traveled with Echo Fox to Korea for a bootcamp. To enable the bootcamp, the NA LCS reached out to the Riot office in Korea and secured accounts on the Korean server for each of the traveling players, including Damonte. In return, each of the players, including Damonte, signed an account agreement that promised, amongst other things, to refrain from any toxic behavior on the Korea server, and acknowledged that there was a zero tolerance policy toward improper behavior while a guest of the Korean office and the LCK.

On May 24, 2018, League Operations for the LCK provided the NA LCS with a chat log of a game on the Korean server in which Damonte exhibited highly toxic behavior. After reviewing the logs, the NA LCS requested that the Korean office revoke Damonte’s account and notified both Echo Fox and the Players’ Association that a suspension from competitive play was forthcoming.

RELEVANT RULES

14.1.11    Profanity and Hate Speech.

A Team Member may not use language that is obscene, foul, vulgar, insulting, threatening, abusive, libelous, slanderous, defamatory or otherwise offensive or objectionable; or promote or incite hatred or discriminatory conduct, in or near the match area, at any time. A Team Member may not use any facilities, services or equipment provided or made available by LCS or its contractors to post, transmit, disseminate or otherwise make available any such prohibited communications. A Team Member may not use this type of language on social media or during any public facing events such as streaming.

14.2.7    Player Behavior Investigation.

If LCS or Riot determines that a Team or Team Member has violated the Summoner’s Code, the LoL Terms of Use, or other rules of LoL, League officials may assign penalties at their sole discretion…

RULING

Damonte has violated rules 14.1.11 and 14.2.7 of the NA LCS ruleset.

Pursuant to the NA LCS Penalty Index, Damonte is ineligible to play in the first five NA LCS games and the first five NA LACS games of the 2018 Summer Split. Accordingly, Damonte will be eligible for the LACS on June 29 and the LCS on July 1.