(Update: 3:00 p.m. EST.) An LFM representative told Newsweek that the “tournament will be on for next week” and the last representatives’ quote has been removed.
The tournament, run on eFuse, last took place on May 13. KeemPark, the vertical that was created to house Daniel “Keemstar” Keem’s tournament series, hasn’t been updated in two weeks and the company’s Twitter account has remained silent on the fate of Warzone Wednesdays. Influencers who have taken part in the event nearly every week haven’t tweeted about the tournament. It’s unclear what the future of KeemPark will be or if other tournaments will continue in the future.
Fans on Twitter have been disappointed and confused about the lack of communication around Warzone Wednesdays. Having a weekly tournament to relax to in the middle of the week was a welcome gift, especially during these quarantine times. Without Warzone Wednesdays, viewers are left with a void to fill their viewing time.
The sudden end to this tournament in its current form comes after a heated, very public back-and-forth between Keem and fellow YouTuber Ethan “h3h3” Klein. On May 20, Klein released a video detailing controversies that Keem has had online. Points included Keem’s interview with Desmond “Etika” Amofah weeks before Amofah’s death and his treatment of a Runescape streamer he falsely accused of being a pedophile.
Keem responded with videos of his own, defending his actions in each case while deflecting blame to other parties. Klein was the main target of Keem’s responses; in his videos, Keem pulled up the YouTuber’s past clips to try and illustrate hypocrisy and tarnish Klein’s image. Each made three videos about the other, garnering millions of views between them and angering fans on both sides.
GFuel, which has been sponsoring Keem for over five years, ended its relationship with the content creator at his own behest. With KeemPark in limbo, the future of Keem’s other projects remains up in the air. His Spotify podcast with co-hosts ColossalisCrazy and FaZe Banks still remains active, with an “h3h3 drama” episode sponsored by the Epic Games Store.
Keem has been no stranger to scandal, with Twitter drama being a core part of the influencer’s online identity. “(I’m) half-loved and half-hated by design,” Keem said in a relatively recent interview with Newsweek. “There’s people always talking about me and that’s a great marketing strategy.”
