Some fans may have thought they were given a late Christmas present when news broke on the Riot forums that the popular streamer Tyler1 was going to be officially unbanned. The forum post – which has since been removed – was only a single sentence stating, “After months of talking, we finally unbanned Tyler”. The only bad news is it wasn’t real. Even worse, Riot had to admit that it happened because one of their accounts hacked.

The_Cactopus, a well-known Riot figure on the Reddit forums, quickly took to the forums to say that Tyler1 was not in fact unbanned and that an account had been compromised. He did not add any details of Tyler1’s continued ban, but did add that it is official Riot policy not to discuss or comment on the ban status of any individuals, meaning that if Tyler1 or anyone else gets unbanned, it will happen quietly and without comment to the public. It also remains rather unlikely that Riot will ever revisit Tyler1’s ID ban, as they have shown time and again to find it frustrating, not endearing, that Tyler1 continues to garner attention after harassing their community and violating their rules.

Phreak has gone on record saying, “Tyler knows what he has to do [to be unbanned]. He chooses not to do it.” While conspiracies have always floated around about Riot’s connection with streamers – some say they are on Riot’s payroll while others say they threaten or extort streamers – the truth is that Riot definitely knows about their existence, even if they aren’t working with them. Phreak’s own statements imply that Riot has communicated to Tyler1 the terms of his ban, meaning the “free Tyler1” and “reformed” memes so often spouted are more about a brand than an actual concern to return to the game. Riot has also shown their complete willingness to ban streamers no matter their popularity. In the past month alone, streamers hashinshin and yassuo have had accounts banned, with hashinshin’s being his main account, so Riot has no qualms about treating streamers as normal players, not celebrities.

Even though the incident turned out to be a hoax, it has ended in yet another black eye for Riot. Fans continue to flock to Tyler1 as an underground personality despite his numerous slights against the community that loves him. By unbanning him, Riot would have to – to a degree – condone what he has done. But by attacking or pursuing him, Riot also harms their standing with the community. Despite the news being fake, it only came from Riot admitting that someone took control of an admin’s account to post the false information. Banned or not, Tyler1 is Riot’s own Phantom of the Opera, and no matter what they do, he will constantly tarnish their name.