Gab Hernandez 
The official LPL account just shared a reportedly insulting jab at T1’s Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, but what was actually said?
The LPL is China’s premiere League of Legends organization and is home to multiple Worlds and MSI champions. The top three of the LPL’s playoff tournament get automatic bids to the League of Legends World Championship, the most prestigious tournament. That has seen top LPL teams cross paths with Faker on many occasions, and it seems that some notable figures in the league won’t be buying his incredibly expensive skins.
A post on social media outlet Weibo by the LPL may have sneaked in a swipe at Faker for having a “dead” mother. This sparked outrage among fans, but what’s the real story here?
LPL officials seemingly insulted T1’s Faker for having divorced parents
LPL officials on the social media platform Weibo possibly posted a hidden jab toward T1’s Faker.
The LPL post is a complicated mess of cultural in-jokes regarding League of Legends. According to Chinese-speaking fans on Reddit, the LPL post roughly translates to a pun that means “Faker’s mom is dead,” referencing Faker’s divorced parents.
However, the phrase used in the post (科目四) literally stands for “the fourth subject test for the Chinese driver’s license test.” Given the absurdity of the sentence in context with Faker, many fans suspected that this was a slight and griped about how unprofessional LPL officials were for throwing jabs at Faker’s childhood.
Chinese-speaking fans claim that T1 haters have regularly used the stealth pun when speaking about Faker online. As for why a section of the LPL fandom hates him, some speculate it’s because of T1 beating LPL teams regularly during Worlds. T1 fans claim that these LPL fans mocking Faker’s parentage are just “salty” over the multiple losses to the popular team.
However, LPL defenders pointed out that one of the casters, MaoMao, is actively testing for their driver’s license. In that context, some have speculated that it’s just an in-joke between friends but the response is that it feels like too outlandish a coincidence.
T1 nor the LPL have made official statements regarding the incident, but T1’s official account unfollowed the offending LPL account on Weibo. With players still not allowed to stream because of DDoS attacks and a rough loss against Gen. G earlier in 2024, it hasn’t been the best year for T1.
