League of Legends streamer and former pro Yiliang "Peter" "Doublelift" Peng has been suspended from co-streaming the League of Legends Championship Series, he revealed Thursday. The suspension is to last through the upcoming week of matches.
Speaking on a recent livestream, Doublelift said Riot Games handed down the suspension after he commented on what he called the league's "dying" viewership numbers, and criticized the LCS for not allowing any active pro players to participate in a show match held earlier this month. The match featured several prominent streamers, including Mr. Beast, Ninja, Tyler1 and Ludwig, and Doublelift said Team Liquid's mid laner Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg was originally slated to play.
"A couple days ago I was talking about how LCS was so stupid for not letting Bjergsen play in the Mr. Beast tournament, and I think I said the words 'LCS is dying," Doublelift explained on stream Thursday. "So your boy got extremely turbo headshot by LCS."
Doublelift's offending comments, said on his stream Wednesday, called Bjergsen's exclusion a missed opportunity for the league.
"Riot and LCS blocked Bjergsen from playing in this event. He was supposed to be on Mr. Beast's team.
"LCS is dying," he continued. "The viewership is absolutely dying. There's no denying it. Everyone knows it. Everyone can feel it. Why would you not let one of, if not the, face of the league play in an event with two of the biggest creators in the world — literally the biggest creator in the world?
"LCS could not pay Mr. Beast enough to insert one of their players into an event that is watched by so many kids. A completely different audience. So many kids, so many impressionable people who would potentially be interested in the game or watching LCS," he said.
EsportsCharts, which tracks viewership data for the LCS, indicates Doublelift's claims have some merit. The LCS is drawing 40,000 fewer viewers to broadcasts on average than it did in last year's summer split. On the other hand, the show match at the center of Doublelift's comments drew in more than 69,000 average viewers over its four-hour broadcast — 15,000 more than the LCS's third week of competition.
The LCS returns to broadcast Saturday.
This article was originally published on dbltap as Doublelift Suspended from Co-Streaming LCS.