It’s alleged that Reginald helped foster a culture of fear in TSM
Riot Games has initiated an investigation into allegations of verbal abuse and bullying leveled at Team SoloMid founder and CEO Andy "Reginald" Dinh. News of the investigation broke via WIRED, who contacted Riot Games over the allegations.
As part of their response to WIRED, Riot Games explained that "As the league operator (of the LCS), we have engaged the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers LLP to conduct an independent investigation into claims of misconduct made against the leader of this team, in accordance with standard league process." Regi will now face and independent investigation into the bullying allegations.
A Complicated Legacy for Regi
Regi is the founder, a former player for, and CEO of Team SoloMid, now known as TSM FTX. While TSM operates in number of games, including Valorant and Apex, its most significant division is the League of Legends team. TSM has been a part of the LCS since its inception and staple in the scene even before.
The allegations of bullying and abuse against Regi are numerous with common threads. For example, employees speaking to WIRED alleged that instead of normal criticism, Dinh would resort to throwing insults, like "You're trash." The employees state that this behaviour created a culture of fear within the TSM FTX organization.
In response to the allegations, Regi downplays them as symptoms of his own bluntness and direct attitude. "My vocabulary was at times too harsh and ineffective. I know I need to work on my delivery." He added "I am working to improve the way I communicate with my team and those around me."
Regi Bullying Right Under our Noses?
However, these allegations will perhaps come as little surprise to those familiar with the well-documented history of TSM. Anyone with the time to search through YouTube can find videos of Reginald in shouting matches with his players, publicly berating teammates, and (on the official TSM FTX YouTube channel) resolving team disputes through boxing matches.
Obviously, most of these are played for laughs or light-hearted in tone; it's hard to imagine that this onscreen persona doesn't transfer to the professional side of things. For context, many teams would stream huge amounts in the early days of the LCS and before. It wasn't uncommon to see team confrontations, post-scrim arguments, and other conflicts.
Ultimately, as possibly entertaining as these past videos were, they now seem to document a more malicious side of TSM. Should Riot Games choose to pursue action against Regi, they'll likely have a mountain of evidence to help them. It also wouldn't be the first time Riot Games has delivered sanctions against Dinh, such as a $5000 fine for "conduct unbecoming" in March 2021.