Spanish grassroots LoL event under fire due to racist team name and comments

Craig Robinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 25/08/2026

A community-created League of Legends tournament, the JetaCup, has come under fire after after promotional material for one of its participating teams appeared to reference the Ku Klux Klan. The drama escalated further with what appear to be now-deleted tweets on X. Screenshots circulated alongside also appear to show racial jokes involving Lucian and Senna, two non-white League of Legends champions.

The event features a team called KeKe Clan, whose name and promotional imagery have been interpreted by critics as references to the KKK, the American white supremacist group. The organisation has a long history of racial terror and violence against Black Americans, including lynchings. Screenshots of the deleted tweets have since been archived via a Reddit thread, attributed to at least one person associated with the team, showing additional posts that commenters have linked to the same controversy.

Grassroots events can still have consequences

The problem is compounded by the event’s associations. The tournament carries the name of renowned Spanish creator, Lyon Toad, giving it additional visibility in the Spanish League of Legends scene.

Last week, the event featured a matchup between SK Gaming’s Head Coach, David “OWN3R” Rodriguez de la Torre, alongside former Heretics coach Victor “Machuki” Machuca Segura. This shows that, despite its grassroots status, the tournament has attracted personnel with considerable experience at the higher echelons of competitive play.

Riot Games’ community competition guidelines include a clear clause stating participants must not engage in “abusive, exclusionary, fraudulent or otherwise harmful behaviour”. A team appearing to reference a white supremacist organisation, critics argue, fall foul of those guidelines.

Broadcaster Toad was streaming in the early hours of the morning, addressing Spanish fans and explaining his position. He has subsequently responded, stating he has no affiliation with the event’s management, that he lent his name to the tournament, and that his involvement has been limited to casting the Grand Finals in previous editions.

It comes as Riot Games recently made it easier to create grassroots and community events, as we covered earlier this month.

The controversy clearly demonstrates the reputational risk that can arise when creators, coaches, or organisations lend their names to grassroots competitions without having any control over them. It’s also a strong reminder of how important following the rules, having proper organisation setup, and moderation is in esports. What may have been a ‘silly joke’ has travelled well beyond its original audience, with screenshots circulating in the public domain.

The incident highlights one of the biggest challenges created by a more open grassroots esports ecosystem. Riot’s new framework gives communities more freedom to organise competitions, but with great power, comes great responsibility. Tournament operators must take ownership over moderating team names, promotional material and participant conduct.

The event itself is scheduled to start on 7th September. We shall see what adjustments are made and announced in the run-up.

Craig Robinson, Senior Editor

Craig began his career with Esports News UK back in 2015/2016, looking to write about a passion while studying at Manchester Metropolitan University. He stayed there for several years before moving on to other websites to begin his career after graduating. Now he's back, covering esports adjacent topics and UK stories.

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