League of Legends pro Crownie gets suspended for calling someone “ape” during a solo queue game

Jus "Crownie" Marusic, aka Crownshot, the Team BDS League of Legends player, has been suspended by Riot Games for allegedly using offensive and un-sportsman-like language in a recent solo queue matchmaking.

The bottom laner for Team BDS has been handed a two-match competitive suspension from the upcoming matches in the French LoL league, La Ligue Francaise. In a Tweet, the team announced that he will be replaced by Matthew "xMatty" Coombs for the respective matches.

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Crownie was suspended due to 'unacceptable behavior' according to Riot

The former Vitality bot laner was apparently playing a solo queue match in a Plat 3 lobby when he allegedly called another player an "ape," which caused the ban. However, the official report does not mention the exact words, it just says:

"Evidence showed that Crownie displayed negative behavior while playing League of Legends. Crownie’s usage of inappropriate and offensive language towards other players in the game is unacceptable and has no place in our competitive ecosystem. Additionally, Crownie has an ongoing warning for similar behavior, and a repeated offense meant we had to escalate the penalty."

According to the EMEA Competitive Operations website, the ongoing warning came back from his Vitality days for "Conduct unbecoming of an LEC Team member." This time, the official ruling clearly states that he will not be able to play two matches till July 1.

In their tweet, Team BDS said that they acknowledge the issue, respect the decision, and will take further action to prevent such things in the future:

"Team BDS acknowledges the suspension and strongly condemns this attitude which does not match the values that Team BDS represents and defends. Team BDS will take further internal measures that it considers appropriate."

Jus retweeted the post, seemingly agreeing with the statement in the press release which quotes the player apologizing for his actions:

"I accept my suspension and would like to apologize to those offended, my teammates, and Team BDS fans. I will be the first supporter of the team this week."

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Social media reactions to the ban

The League of Legends community has been reacting to the ban differently. Considering that the actual details of the ban are still not out in the open, speculations are floating around on social media.

His friend and former Pro IWDominate weighed in on the issue, criticizing Riot for banning the player for what many have said is a "mild" comment. Most online competitive games have a very toxic playerbase and LoL solo queue matchmaking is usually full of players throwing expletives at each other for the tiniest of mistakes. Many have said that if this is considered toxic, then most pro players should be banned.

The LoL subreddit has also been buzzing with discussions about the ban. Many argue that 'ape' is not sufficient for a ban and he might have said something worse while pointing out that such exchanges are a regular occurrence in the EU servers. Some stand by the fact that this is an unjust ban, while a few think that his friends are covering up a bigger scandal.

Redditors also weighed in on whether the expression was racist or not. It is a fact that 'ape' has been and can be used as a racial insult.

The actual reason for the ban cannot be known unless the player himself releases the logs. The main contention dividing the community, as it stands, is the fact that pros have been regularly toxic during their playtime, and there should be consistency in regulation. Otherwise, it is unfair to players who get banned while others do not. However, Crownie already had a warning for bad behavior, so it is not clear if Riot is finally cracking down on toxicity or just enforcing a ban on a repeat offender.