Backed and masterminded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, NEOM is a planned megacity with a budget of £400bn with extravagant plans that include an “artificial moon” and glow in the dark beaches. All laudable goals - if tarred by vanity and eccentricity - but those plans are built on the blood of the over 20,000 indeginous people it will be displacing.
A Guardian article linked by Trevor “Quickshot” Henry puts it this way: “Neom is less a shining vision of the future than a grim symbol of Saudi human rights violations, underscored by the treatment of the Huwaitat tribe.”
For the likes of Indiana “Froskurinn” Black and ex-caster, now MAD Lions Community Manager James “Stress” O’Leary, the sponsorship strikes on a more personal level. Both are outspoken members of the LGBTQ+ community, and Saudi Arabia alongside MBS have a notoriously brutal history of abuse against that community. Stress puts it bluntly: “The league I cover is now promoting a country that would kill me just for existing.”
The LEC’s logo was recently rebranded into pride colours. Never has that felt more like an empty corporate statement.
(Picture: LEC)
The current list of dissenters includes: Quickshot, Drakos, Medic, Froskurinn (1 and 2), Vedius, Ender, Sjokz, Laure, Stress, Munch, Shakarez, Jeff Latham, Triaged, Darius, Excoundrel, Michal Konkol, Becca
LEC are not the only esport organisation that has recently signed a deal with NEOM, BLAST also signed a deal with the planned city-state with the goal of advising on the creation of "an esports academy in the city and the expansion of esports within the wider Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."
