Alienware Terminates League Of Legends Sponsorship Due To Riot Harassment Allegations

Alienware has terminated its esports sponsorship deal for League of Legends more than ten months early due to Riot Games' decaying public image. According to a Dot Esports report, this decision comes as a direct result of the sexual harassment claims against Riot's CEO, Nicolo Laurent.

That report claims that Alienware cited Riot's inability to deal with recurring accusations of sexual harassment and other similar controversies as harmful to the sponsorship, which was set to expire in January 2022. Riot removed all of the Alienware branding from its competitive League of Legends broadcasts in mid-March, an apparent result of this decision.

Riot has not commented on the report, citing "confidentiality obligations." Riot's alleged culture of sexism and harassment became public knowledge following a 2018 Kotaku report that prompted promises of "culture change" from the notable game developer. In 2019, Riot settled a class-action lawsuit that accused the company of sexism and violating the California Equal Pay Act.

Recently, however, the company has come under fire due to the lawsuit against its CEO Laurent. That lawsuit was filed in California in February by a former Riot executive assistant who alleges that Laurent created a hostile work environment that included unwanted sexual advances and demeaning remarks. In the League of Legends community, Riot was also widely criticized last year for penning a deal with the Saudi Arabian "mega-city" Neom, with detractors pointing to Saudi Arabia's poor human rights record (especially regarding LGBTQ and women) as reason enough to dump the deal. Riot later backed out of the deal due to the criticism.