Vici Gaming CEO apologizes for insulting Bengi, then deletes his explanation
Vici Gaming CEO, Lu “HunTeR” Wenjun, has incited anger from Vici Gaming’s fanbase for a comment he made about jungler Bae “Bengi” Seongwoong in comparing him to previous jungler, Choi “DanDy” Inkyu. On March 13, he posted an apology, but deleted it within the hour. The apology has since been posted in full on Chinese media website Duowan.
Despite fielding major names like Cho “Mata” Sehyeong, DanDy, Lee “Easyhoon” Jihoon, and Bengi, Vici Gaming have not performed well in the LPL since their qualification prior to the 2015 Spring split. Their highest placement was fourth in their group (of six) in the 2016 Summer regular season, but they only managed to finish 5-6th in playoffs. Following the Summer split, DanDy left the team, and recent World Champion, Bengi, joined in his place.
Recently, Vici Gaming have been performing even worse than they did in 2015 and 2016. They sit in last place in Group B with only two series wins of eight played. In their most recent match against Snake eSports, ex-World Championship mid laner Easyhoon swapped to the support role in the final match, and Vici lost the game.
Vici Gaming’s CEO, HunTeR, posted on Weibo that, at the moment, DanDy’s style of carry jungler was better suited to the team, but Bengi was not this kind of jungler. In the comments section, CEO HunTeR commented on why DanDy wasn’t still on the team. “We discussed it for two months, but couldn’t agree on a price for DanDy,” he said. “You get what you paid for.”
Fans reacted angrily, arguing that, as a CEO, he shouldn’t say such a thing about his player. On March 13, HunTeR wrote an apology for the comment.
“Recently, the team’s performance has been very poor, and it really made my mentality decline. Yesterday I made a comment that made Bengi’s and Vici Gaming’s fans very angry. Here I will apologize. This comment made fans and even Bengi feel hurt, so I alone take responsibility and will try to explain.
“With the apology over, I will speak more concretely on the situation. Bengi has tried really hard to fit into the team, but the result has yet to be achieved. During the process, Bengi has also had a lot of problems that aren’t easy to resolve, which makes us feel disappointed. Last year, Easyhoon and DanDy had very strong results together right away, ensuring that we could make playoffs both splits. So of course the team will feel disappointed by comparison. Bengi also has a hard time expressing his ideas and thoughts so his Chinese teammates have a hard time playing with him. As a result, Easyhoon will bear a larger burden of communication.”
Following HunTeR’s apology over his angry words, he also attempted to explain why Easyhoon switched to the support role against Snake eSports. “This is not something we proposed, this is something Easyhoon proposed,” HunTeR said. HunTeR claimed this was so Easyhoon could command the team better and have stronger synergy with Bengi.
Last year, HunTeR stated that importing a mid laner with a strong jungler might give the team better results. “The coaches said that if we can get a very strong mid laner instead, the synergy between a powerful jungler and mid laner will level up the strength of Vici Gaming overall and make the team much stronger.” HunTeR also, however, acknowledged that the loss of Coach Yoon “Homme” Sungyoung hurt Vici, and referred to him as “the most powerful coach I’ve ever known.”
To conclude his explanation, HunTeR stated “I am responsible for my speech. However, I am even more responsible for the results of the team.” Following this statement, he claimed he is often pulled in many different directions, making it hard for him to focus, but he hopes the team will avoid relegation.
You can follow Kelsey Moser on Twitter @karonmoser.
