Riot Games Head of Esports in North America responds to Perkz wearing hat during LCS

Luka “Perkz” Perković wore a hat on the League of Legends Championship Series stage after Riot Games refused to lower lighting to accommodate his medical issues.

Cloud9’s mid laner was seen wearing a branded hat on the LCS broadcast on July 2. This prompted a response from Perkz on Twitter when questioned by fans. In a deleted tweet, Perkz explained that he wore the hat to lower the lighting in the studio. The lighting needed to be lowered due to a medical issue according to Perkz. However, Perkz would need a doctor’s note to get the lighting changed. Perkz also explained that he never had issues with broadcast lighting at the League of Legends European Championship league or internationally.

“Riot wouldn’t wanna lower the lighting for me for past 5 weeks even though I had a medical needs for it and stage lighting is part of read check,” the now-deleted tweet read. “Really cringe I needed to get doctor note for that, had no problems internationally or in LEC,”

According to Perkz, lighting issues are a part of ready checks before the games begin in the studio. The LCS returned to the Riot Games studio in California when the 2021 Summer Split started. That was five weeks ago, and Perkz has been allegedly dealing with these lighting issues since the start of the Summer Split in June.

Head of esports at Riot Games responds to Perkz

Chris Greeley, head of esports for North America and Oceania at Riot Games and interim commissioner of the LCS apologized to Perkz on Twitter. In a series of tweets, Greeley apologized to Perkz for the discomfort he faced while on stage. He also stated that Perkz’s medical issues took weeks to get into the right hands at the LCS. According to Greeley, the LCS is working with Cloud9 to provide a temporary and long-term solution to ensure Perkz’s comfort on stage.

First, I want to apologize to @C9Perkz for the discomfort he’s felt while playing in our studio. We always want to provide the best possible experience for our pros. 1/3

— Chris Greeley (@IAmGrza) July 3, 2021

After Greeley apologized to Perkz publicly, Cloud9 CEO Jack Etienne gave a response.

“There were clearly some communication breakdowns here and we all could have done better in this situation,” Etienne said on Twitter. “However, I’m confident that together with the LCS team we’ll work hard to find a satisfactory solution.”