[LoL] How and why CLG had a PR meltdown (x-post from /r/leagueoflegends)

I mean, when you consider the fact that the TSM video was a promotional thing created BY TSM, with plenty of precedent that TSM MAKES VIDEOS LIKE THAT, I feel it's really kinda foolish to list that as 'just another thing DL was doing to shit on CLG quietly.'

More importantly, it's REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT to actually acknowledge the fact that Double is still a person with feelings throughout all of this, in addition to being a public figure. Saying he was let go of at 2 AM can be called an exaggeration by someone with actual reason to be emotionally upset as it is a 'half-truth,' and that's still a long shot from quietly bashing his former team. His explanation of why he was upset was not a PR statement, it was a personal statement, and in no way did he go beyond that to trashtalking CLG.

I spent a helluva lot of time watching Double's stream after everything started a week ago, and it was nothing but donations asking for Double to talk about what CLG did to him, and him refusing over and over again. He would practically restate the PR announcement, add in one comment on being upset with how suddenly it FELT like it happened, and that was it. When asked about Aphro/Rush Hour, he would respond that people shouldn't go on believing they were the closest friends ever--because from what he could see with the limited knowledge he had, whatever part Aphro could have played in his removal from the team left him not knowing how he felt about DL. Then Aphro talks about how he still would like to be friends with Double, viewers link VOD's to him within MINUTES of this, and he immediately retracts his statement now that he knows more of the situation and how others feel about him.

Two important points, really: First, Double made mistakes, and CLG made mistakes in their handling of this, none of those mistakes were enormous or heinous, though I feel that as a professional organization, CLG should for sure be held to standard in these sorts of situations especially when they've flubbed it in the past.

Second, while Double isn't actually some sort of horrible victim in this whole scenario, neither has he brought horrible ruin upon CLG; no actual trash talk, no extensive statements of atrocities committed against him, nothing of the sort. The PR backlash CLG has faced can be laid first at their own feet--not because they did something horrible, but because they made an unpopular decision they felt they needed to make--then you can sprinkle some on TSM's doorstep for the video, and ultimately, like has been mentioned, it's the damn internet hivemind.

/r/CLG Thread