Esports journalist Ashley Kang claims T1 blacklisted her for negative coverage

During a conversation with gaming broadcaster Kim Seong-hoe, journalist Ashley Kang claimed T1 CEO Joe Marsh and the PR team blacklisted her after coverage of a controversy with Oner in 2022. The journalist accused T1 of revoking her access to player interviews multiple times after that.

The interview was translated from Korean to English by a Reddit user, meaning it might contain small nuances. Take that into consideration.

At the start of the conversation with Kim Seong-hoe, esports journalist Ashley Kang admitted she felt scared to speak about the issue.

According to Ashley, the media suppression started after Mun "Oner" Hyeon-jun's controversy back in 2022. Ashley Kang wrote an article revealing that T1 CEO Joe Marsh ran a private Discord where he shared team information — including schedules, photos, and early updates — with a select group of fans. The controversy escalated when shirtless photos of Oner were posted, prompting sexualized comments in the chat. Back then, she shared some screenshots of that discord, including a comment from T1 Joe saying: "Who is gonna spray the oil on him [Oner]?". A few days later, he wrote saying it was a "thrist trap". This started a lot of social media posts questioning whether the comment was appropriate.

T1 CEO Joe Marsh addressed the situation, stating that "this wasn't intended for Korean fans, only for international fans," and explained that "it was part of a $69 service package." However, many fans criticized him for allegedly sharing paid content with international audiences while Korean fans, who were the ones paying, were not receiving the same content. They were also very angry about the inappropriateness of those comments towards Oner.

According to Ashley Kang, after the article about this matter, she was blacklisted. At Worlds 2022, she realized KORIZON (the media outlet that she owns) wasn't receiving any interview opportunities with T1, something that the PR team was not giving a clear reason why. After some pressure, the PR revealed it was a direct decision from Joe Marsh.

In the interview, she revealed how shocked she was, saying she "reported the incident factually and allowed T1 to comment." Ashley added that "while T1 can favor journalists that speak positively about them, fair journalism includes covering controversies, and that suppressing it hurts the scene long term."

Later, T1 Joe Marsh apologized and officially acknowledged that the discord incident was inappropriate and even "had his pay cut". Ashley explained that as a speaker of both Korean and English, she felt the necessity to clarify for the overseas fans who were reacting to rumors about Korean fans.

She also revealed she contacted Joe Marsh directly, who expressed feeling hurt and said Ashley disrespected him and his family. “If I apologize for reporting facts, then I stop being a journalist.”, she explained after refusing to apologize. Ashley claimed that Joe only allowed her to get one interview, which was far fewer than the remaining media outlets. In the interview, Ashley shared the text messages that you can read from the minute 9:16 to 9:47.

In the interview, she kept talking about a "dangerous precedent" where journalists self-censor and avoid truth-telling out of fear and eventually become “company journalists". The host even talked about cultural nuance around the word “blacklist” in Korea versus English-speaking countries and how they also note that multiple other journalists have quietly shared similar concerns about media suppression, but are too afraid to speak out. 

The journalist reflected on the situation, admitting it was an incredibly difficult experience — one that even made her consider quitting. It was only after watching the Zeus video that she decided to speak out and share her side of the story. Ashley emphasized that she still supports the players, even if the organization continues to silence her. She also criticized T1’s PR strategy, claiming it frequently backfires. As an example, she pointed to CEO Joe Marsh’s public statement about “protecting Zeus” following Doran’s transfer, arguing that it only fueled further tampering rumors instead of dispelling them.

In the interview, she talked about "the worst-case scenario" that involves not only being blacklisting, but possible a target for personal or legal attacks due to Korea’s strict defamation laws. Ashley expressed that she is not fluent in Korean and gave up her life in New Zealand to be in esports. “If this becomes a past-tense chapter, that would be heartbreaking.”

She also considered returning to her first career, programming, and even joked about making RimWorld2. However, the idea of leaving esports not by choice but by force feels "soul-crushing", adding that watching players grow and build trust over time "is very rewarding".

She insists that her views won’t influence how she interviews players in the future — if she’s ever given the chance again. After the conflict occurred, Ashley was able to receive help from Riot HQ. Though the frequency is still limited, she was able to resume interviewing T1 players.

Ashley Kang revealed that T1 did it again after the DDoS issue. She said that she enjoys T1’s streams, but it is a big deal if a top team gets their practice disrupted because of DDoS, which made her take the initiative to report on this issue. She also noticed that some fans were accusing Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok of using DDoS issues as excuses for poor performance. However, the players have been very vocal about this problem back then and expressed how harsh things were for them.

According to her, despite "more than 15 media outlets reporting the same thing", she was the only one punished. The esports journalist commented that it was a clear retaliation for the 2022 article. After another direct contact with T1 CEO Joe Marsh, he said: "I need to see you apologize publicly, otherwise there will be no more T1 interviews", claiming that she "hurt the team". She claimed that she saw her interviews being denied repeatedly at the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) 2024, contrary to other media outlets.

The majority of the community expressed solidarity with Ashley in the Oner's case. However, they were not so keen to do the same with the DDoS issue. According to various comments under the interview post, Ashley was the one fueling negative reactions on X. At the time, she posted a quote of Faker "in a particular manner, which stirred some pretty bad waves against the players". The Reddit user added that "it was not the first time". Sometimes, Ashley "made mistakes that impacted players’ reputation negatively". They explained that her translation was the first source back then. However, the lack of the full context of Faker's post-match interview triggered hostile public attention.

"Tbf the DDOS reporting by her did force Faker/T1 to apologize largely for a situation where they really shouldn’t have, she made a lot of mistakes in her reporting during that time in general. Everything else is disgusting, though, and shouldn’t be understated. I’ve always been shocked that people disregarded the Oner oil comments by Marsh and focused on his more harmless/useless comments", a Reddit user commented. Other fans have been publicly demanding that Ashley also apologise for the errors she made in the past, especially the one related to Faker's interview.

Others have been jumping to her defense. They say that T1 CEO Joe Marsh should have been gone for a while now. One fan even accused Joe Marsh of "not taking accountability" and "blaming others like he did with Zeus’s agency".

So far, T1 has not made a statement about Ashley Kang's allegations. We'll be waiting for a public statement on the company's side.

That's all for now. Stick around for more League of Legends news, guides, and updates on esports.gg.