League of Legends Studio Suspends Executive Who Blames George Floyd for His Own Death

The murder of George Floyd a few weeks ago has caused a worldwide uproar with everyone protesting major reform when it comes to the police system. Of course, there are some people who are against the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and League of Legends studio Riot Games had to suspend an executive for making a post that supposedly blames Floyd for his own death.

According to IGN, a one Ron Johnson, who is global head of consumer product at Riot Games, had posted on FB a photo of Floyd depicting his criminal past with the caption, "This is no reason to condone his killing by the officer at all, which still needs to be investigated as a potential crime. It is a learning opportunity for people (and your kids) to teach that this type of criminal lifestyle never results in good things happening to you or those around you."

In a statement released to Vice, Riot Games had said:

"We've been made aware of the social media post and have launched an investigation. We'll say firmly that the sentiment in that image is abhorrent, against our values, and directly counter to our belief that addressing systemic racism requires immediate social change, which we detailed in the commitments we made Friday. While we don't discuss the details of our investigations or their outcomes, we're following our disciplinary process closely and have placed him on leave pending its conclusion."

Speaking of commitments, Riot Games had pledged $1 million to the Innocence Project and the ACLU. The same studio has also promised that they will invest upwards of $10 million for programs backing black and other minority game developers.

With all the big companies being asked to take a side on #BLM, it's great that Riot Games is taking a solid stance on the issue, even going so far as to suspend one of their executives. We don't know for how long these protests are going to last, but hopefully they will lead to some meaningful reform soon.

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