At the 2021 World Championship, Fnatic bot laner Upset left a day before the start of groups. Now, former top laner Adam spills the tea on the situation.
It's been six months since the 2021 World Championship and most have already forgotten the drama surrounding both Adam and Upset, but it seems that it has become a topic of discussion once more.
Why did Upset leave his team at such a critical moment? Adam "Adam" Maanane, Fnatic’s former top laner spoke out on Twitter regarding the implosion of the 2021 World Championship squad and their bot laner Upset, but the issue has not been resolved it seems.
Streamer Paulael finally revealed why her husband left the team in hopes of finally clearing up the issue after getting death threats from fans and constant harassment.
[Update April 22, 2022]
Streamer Paulael Speaks Out After Doublelift Comments
On April 21, 2022, Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng made comments on the 'wife memes' after Upset left Fnatic right before the start of the 2021 League of Legends World Championship. These comments brought up the issue once more, which prompted Paulael, Upset's wife to finally speak out.
Bc I was abused, he don’t say anything bc he want to protect me, but the right ppl in his work know. Now everyone is happy? I’m done with all this, how everyone is so disgusting. I’m dealing with double pain here and we’re doing our best.
She wrote on Twitter on April 21, 2022, after Doublelifts comments hit the internet. Upset also sent out his own tweet on the situation, hoping that people will finally leave Paulael and him alone.
Doublelift, who had brought the issue back to light, has since also made his own statement during a stream.
It’s funny not knowing anything about the situation, and coming in as an outsider and seeing the memes. Now that it’s out that it’s about a really sensitive issue, it’s not funny anymore.
Bc I was abused, he don't say anything bc he want to protect me, but the right ppl in his work know. Now everyone is happy? I'm done with all this, how everyone is so disgusting. I'm dealing with double pain here and we're doing our best. I can't believe this community https://t.co/C9fLEolheP
— Paula (@Paulaeal) April 21, 2022
[Original Article]
Adam’s Statement.
In the statement from Adam, the young top laner explained that he will not be playing for Fnatic in the upcoming season. He stated that until this day, he still doesn’t know why exactly Upset left the team literally 12 hours before their first match at the 2021 World Championship.
In his Twitlonger, the young top laner explained that he felt it was unjustified of Upset to leave, forcing the team to play with their backup ADC Bean with whom they’d only played 2 scrim games, each lasting 10 minutes.
- At least Team Liquid doesn't have any drama this off-season.
Adam wrote that “there is absolutely nothing legal in Upset's departure and his departure is totally unjustified”. He added that the departure of Upset had quite the impact on the team morale and “not everyone was really mentally prepared to handle this situation and deal with it”.
The situation didn’t end at Worlds. The off-season hasn’t gone smoothly for Adam either. He explained that Upset had been talking to Alphari to try and get the veteran top laner onto the Fnatic lineup, thus pushing Adam out of a starting position.
This was the final straw for the young top laner and essentially made the decision for him to find a new team ahead of the 2022 LEC season. According to sources from Dotesports, he might be in talks with Team BDS
Upset Answers With Own Statement
After Adam posted his statement regarding the Fnatic situation, Upset added his own statement in a Twitlonger. In his statement, he explained that he values his own privacy and that of his family, which was why he didn’t tell the entire team. According to Upset, only YamatoCannon knew why he left ahead of the group phase.
Me sharing information with people from the team that I can not trust at a deep level who can turn against me and share my personal life with the people that want the worst for me and my family is something i never want to do. I shared the situation with Yamato and I intended to do the same with Hylissang because these were the people I felt I had a genuine trusting relationship with.
He also explained that Fnatic management asked him to speak to Alphari since they were previous teammates and knew one another well, but that it wasn’t his intention to recruit the veteran and that it would be management's final decision whether to pick him up.
This whole situation is quite bizarre, and it makes everyone wonder why Fnatic hasn’t given any of their players some form of media/PR training before writing Twitlongers that just seem to stir the drama pot.
Thanks to this kid, I receive death threats almost everyday for no reason. https://t.co/zzFpRDKJdw
— Paula (@Paulaeal) December 5, 2021
[Update] Upset's Wife Receives Death Threats
On December 5, 2021, Adam changed his solo queue username to 'Lonely Wife UwU', which hasn't gone unnoticed by the community. By the time of writing this article, the former Fnatic top laner has changed his solo queue name to 'Frustrated Kiddo' instead, probably after the amount of backlash he received.
The name change also prompted a comment from Paula who stated that she has been receiving death threats daily ever since Adam had come out with his initial statement.
Even fans who had stood behind Adam throughout this fiasco have begun to waver, stating that what the 19-year-old is doing is childish and pushing it. Many believe he should move on and show his skill when his LEC team plays Fnatic in 2022.