Competition Theme Song 'Heavy Is The Crown' Video
Inadequate Depiction of Last Year's Champion Team T1 Players
The popular game "League of Legends" has been embroiled in a racial discrimination controversy over the music video for the theme song of the "2024 League of Legends World Championship (Worlds)." While the faces of Western players in the video are distinctly differentiated, the Asian players are depicted with monolid eyes and similar, indistinct faces.
Riot Games, the developer of "League of Legends," recently released the music video for the tournament’s theme song "Heavy Is The Crown," performed by the popular rock band Linkin Park. Traditionally, Worlds theme song music videos have focused on the narrative of the previous year’s winning team. However, this time, the video has drawn criticism from fans both domestically and internationally for its inadequate portrayal of last year’s champions, team T1.
A scene from the music video of the League of Legends World Championship theme song 'Heavy Is the Crown' [Image source: League of Legends YouTube capture]
In particular, T1’s player Lee Min-hyung, known as "Gumayusi," who has prominent double eyelids, was depicted with monolids in the video, making his eye shape identical to other Korean players. It was only possible to identify him by his hair color, whether he wore glasses, or his outfit, rather than by his facial features.
The players themselves were equally taken aback. Kim Hyuk-kyu, known as "Deft" from team KT Rolster, expressed bitterness during a personal broadcast, saying, "I watched the music video and they said it was Bin (from Chinese team Bilibili Gaming), but I thought it was me." Bin also expressed his bewilderment on his social media, stating, "At first, I didn’t even recognize that it was me." Peter Peng, a former professional League of Legends player from the U.S., pointed out on his YouTube channel, "Why do all Asian players look exactly like Deft? It seems like racial discrimination."
The band members of Linkin Park in the 'Heavy Is the Crown' music video [Image source: League of Legends YouTube capture]
On the other hand, members of Linkin Park were depicted with distinct individuality, and players like "Matsu" from the American team FlyQuest and "Caps" from the German team G2 Esports were easily distinguishable by their facial features alone. Esports fans sarcastically commented, "I thought Linkin Park won last year’s tournament, not T1." Fans also expressed disappointment that the dramatic story of T1’s championship run last year was not properly reflected in the music video. The video has recorded approximately 23 million views as of the afternoon of the 28th, just three days after its release.
The stereotype that "East Asians all look alike" is a well-known form of racial discrimination. In June, Rodrigo Bentancur, a midfielder for Tottenham in the English Premier League from Uruguay, made a racially insensitive joke about his teammate Son Heung-min during an interview with his home country’s media. After the controversy grew, he apologized via social media.
While on break in his hometown of Uruguay, Bentancur appeared on a local TV program called "Por la camiseta." When the host said, "I already have your jersey. I want you to bring me the Korean’s (Son Heung-min’s) jersey," Bentancur responded, "Sonny?" and added, "Even if you bring me Son Heung-min’s cousin’s jersey, I wouldn’t know the difference. Anyway, they look the same (Son Heung-min and his cousin)."
Bentancur’s remarks immediately sparked controversy. Especially Son Heung-min’s fans criticized the comment as inappropriate, failing to consider the pain Son has endured from repeated racial discrimination by spectators at matches. Realizing his mistake belatedly, Bentancur posted an apology on his social media.
He said, "Sonny (Son Heung-min’s nickname)! I apologize for what happened just now. What I said was a bad joke. You know how much I love you, right? I never meant to ignore or hurt you," apologizing directly to Son. Bentancur is known to be close to Son Heung-min.
Some "League of Legends" fans have left requests in the music video’s comment section and on Riot Games’ social media accounts asking for the video to be remade. Riot Games has not issued any official statement but has replaced the music video thumbnail with an image of T1’s player Lee Sang-hyeok, known as "Faker."
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