Riot has been cracking down on how they control their organization. Following an incident where LPL player Vasilii assaulted his girlfriend, Riot quickly suspended the player for an entire year, stating that they would take a more active role in monitoring their community and updating their Global Penalty Index to reflect that. Riot has stuck to these words after fining and suspending Longzhu Gaming’s Top Laner Khan for racist comments.

Khan is well-known for his role as Longzhu’s Top Laner and secured his spot on the team next year by a stellar performance at Worlds. However, the trouble started on Khan’s personal stream while playing with friends. While competing against a team of largely Chinese players, Khan was heard saying that, “4 Chinese can’t win.”

Streamers getting in trouble for what they say during casual play isn’t anything new though. Earlier this year, Pewdiepie fell into hot water once again for racist comments, and popular gaming personalities like Jontron have consistently found themselves at the center of drama for remarks they have made. In short, the professional face of many streamers and gaming personalities often falters while they are gaming, and that can be a problem.

However, many Redditors were quick to point out that Khan’s comment was less a statement about an ethnic group of people and more a statement about a region’s performance on the international stage. The finals of Worlds were between two Korean teams this year, as they often are, and the LPL has a history of always falling behind the LCK in terms of ranking. In this way, Khan may have been trash talking teams rather than trash talking ethnicities, which is far more likely.

Still, so long as Riot is in charge, that won’t be tolerated, even if it was meant as a jab at fellow pro players, it’s the other interpretation that Riot took issue with. Because of that, Khan was fined 1 million won, which only comes out to around $920. He was also slapped with a one-game suspension. All told, it could have been much worse, but it feels more like Riot is trying to showcase a new strong stance on player behavior than attacking Khan personally.