I just wanted to take a chance to address a few angry tweets I've been getting, including one from Locodoco around my decision to tweet a leaked vlog he did explaining their decision to remove Gleeb from the team and introduce Lustboy to the team.

For reference:

Apparently Loco posted this vlog earlier today and then TSM removed it. Supposedly getting removed from /r/lol too https://t.co/q79tQDRjvs
— Travis Gafford (@SotLTravis) July 22, 2014

Here's his response:

@SotLTravis i like that a content producer linked a reuploaded content. good examples for others to follow :>
— Yoon (@Locodoco) July 22, 2014

I also had several other fans write to me to say I shouldn't post it for various reasons, usually because "if it was removed, they didn't want people to see it."

Unfortunately, that's not really how journalism works. This was relevant to a news story that broke today, something that League of Legends esports fans would be interested to hear. I have no obligation to TSM to somehow help in the censorship of that information.

It's actually quite insane to me that people are upset about this. Can you imagine people getting upset at ESPN for reporting on a leaked video about a player trade? This is incredibly standard practice. In fact, some sites actually rip/upload the content to their own YouTube channels and sites. I didn't even go that far.

Here are several examples in gaming:

http://www.polygon.com/2014/5/28/5757356/battlefield-hardline-trailer

http://www.polygon.com/2014/6/13/5807416/bloodborne-video-ps4-from-software-project-beast

http://www.polygon.com/2013/4/1/4172290/thief-announcement-trailer-leaked

The funny thing is that, in these situations the videos actually got leaked behind the scenes. In the TSM situation, TSM actually officially posted the video themselves before removing it.

This is standard practice, folks.

I also had some folks say that this probably doesn't help the blacklist situation.

First off, my responsibility to the League esports audience doesn't change regardless of the blacklist. It's my job to get information to the fans.

Secondly, TSM blacklisting us will never encourage me to "help" them more. I'm not going to censor myself or help keep information they don't want public secret. I wouldn't want to do that in either situation, but I don't know how people think that somehow refusing to do any interviews or create any content with me is supposed to encourage that kind of cooperation?

The sad thing is, no one wins in this blacklist situation.

I think if you compare our coverage of the Nien/Seraph hand-off between splits to the way the Gleeb/Lustboy stuff broke, it's pretty clear that the organization benefits from getting clear interviews/coverage. The fans benefit with clear video content rather than tweets, Facebook posts, and removed vlogs. Obviously, onGamers gets a chance to cover it instead of me tweeting out a removed vlog. Everyone wins!

Despite this being the second time a member of TSM management has unfairly called me out on social media, I am still more than willing to work with the org in the positive way I work with the rest of the teams in the LCS. I think this is the best way to serve League fans.

P.S. I have absolutely no beef with the players who I think are great guys and I love seeing at the LCS. As annoying as these situations are, I'm also still not that frustrated with Andy or Loco- I just disagree with their methods of handling all this.