One of the largest advertisers for League of Legends esports cuts ties with Riot Games after sexual harassment allegations against Nicolo Laurent, the company’s CEO.
Alienware will end its global e-sports partnership more than ten months earlier. In conversations with Riot, Alienware expressed its concern about the game developer’s public image amid harassment and other controversies, sources familiar with the talks told Dot Esports.
According to sources, the agreement between Alienware and Riot would originally expire in January 2022. Riot has removed Alienware brands from all its competitors League broadcasts last weekend.
“Alienware has been a valuable partner for Riot since January 2019,” Riot Games said in a statement to Dot Esports. “At the moment we can not comment on our agreement with them due to confidentiality obligations. As we continued conversations with them, we removed their trademarks from our broadcasts. ”
The deal included worldwide sponsorship League esports scene – including the LCS, LEC, LCK, LPL, Mid-Season Invitational and the World Cup.
Alienware, which is owned by Dell, has decided to terminate the agreement after Riot and his CEO were accused of sexual harassment and sex discrimination by former executive assistant Sharon O’Donnell.
Previous allegations of sexual harassment at Riot, as well as the public outcry over the LEC’s partnership in July 2020 with NEOM, a Saudi state – backed urban development, also played a role in the decision.
Riot first came under fire in August 2018 over issues with the internal culture after Kotaku reported on numerous allegations of sexism and sexual abuse. Following the report, Riot apologized and said he would issue a 16-month “cultural transformation timeline”.
But the company remained under fire as more allegations came to light.
In December 2018, Riot, chief operating officer Scott Gelb, was suspended after a report surfaced outlining allegations of misconduct, including slapping men as employees in their genitals as a joke. In a statement issued after the report, Riot said Gelb would be suspended without pay and undergo additional training before returning to the company. As of March, Gelb was still chief operating officer of Riot.
Last summer, Riot found itself in another liaison crisis amid the LEC’s agreement with NEOM.
Riot’s own commentators have criticized the NEOM deal over Saudi Arabia’s treatment of the LGBTQ + community, as set out in a report by The Guardian. The agreement also drew criticism for the Saudi state’s role in the assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi (a U.S. intelligence report released in February directly linked Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Khashoggi’s assassination) and because the country is home to the indigenous Huwaitat tribe for development. Riot ended its NEOM partnership days after it was announced after the public controversy.
Alienware also sponsors Team Liquid and has naming rights to its training facilities in Los Angeles and Utrecht, the Netherlands.
O’Donnell filed a lawsuit against Riot and Laurent in California in January. In the complaint, she claims that Laurent makes sexist remarks, including that female employees must have ‘children’ to relieve tension during the COVID-19 pandemic and that he invited her to non-work-related trips with him. O’Donnell joined Riot in 2017, claiming she was unfairly fired in July 2020 for reporting Laurent to human resources.
Riot denied that it terminated her due to the report, saying he had received complaints about O’Donnell from several employees about her time at the company. Riot said it has opened an independent investigation into Laurent’s behavior.
“The key to giving rioters confidence in our commitment to cultural transformation is to take all allegations of harassment or discrimination very seriously, to thoroughly investigate claims and to take action against anyone who violates our policies,” said Joe Hixson, spokesman for the riot, in a statement. ‘In this case, a special committee of our board oversees the investigation conducted by an outside law firm, as some of the claims relate to an executive leader.
“During this process, our CEO pledged his full cooperation and support, and we are committed to ensuring that all claims are thoroughly investigated and resolved properly.”
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