On April 28th, a popular influencer claimed that a skillful female player had been rejected from the KPL (King Pro League) draft selection of the League for no reason on Chinese social media. This soon stirred up a dumpster fire, since many believed the actual reason for the “no reason” is the player’s gender.
King Pro League is the premier esports league for Hornor of Kings, the biggest mobile MOBA. Previously, no female pro player has ever competed in the league. However, there is one girl that was very close to breaking the barrier.
“甜甜珂”(Sweety Ke) was a popular live streamer and considered to be one of the best players of Honor of Kings. She had ranked top 10 on the public ladder and achieved several championships in Honor of Kings’ female leagues.
With high expectations of her being the first-ever female pro in KPL, Sweety Ke paused her streaming career and joined “LGD大鹅”, one of the best Honor of Kings professional teams, in preparation for this year’s KPL draft.
According to the source, Sweety Ke posted on her social media last night that she was “rejected from KPL draft for no reason”, and “the order was directly from the league”.
Ke’s posts were very quickly deleted. For the next few hours, all kinds of rumors break out. Many fans suggest that gender could play an important role in Ke’s presumable rejection. One screenshot showed Ke explaining to her friends that she can only participate in the female drafting category. Speculations are Ke’s joining KPL would severely hinder the viewership of female league events, and the league would not want to lose her commercial value.
As the speculations are brewing, both Sweety Ke and LGD claim she was indeed training with the LGD youth team, in preparation for the upcoming draft. However, the vague phrasing in these claims leaves much room for imagination. KPL league officials have not yet made any comments or clarifications on the events.