Who Is Tfue? New Details On The YouTuber And His Feud With FaZe Clan
It's a game-changing lawsuit...maybe
Instagram When you think about the world of professional sports, a couple of different things probably cross your mind. If you're from Boston, maybe you think about the Red Sox or the New England Patriots. If you aren't a sports fan, per se, maybe you consider the Olympics the height of professional sports achievement. What you might not think of are video games. That's right, video gaming is now officially a sport, or rather, an esport, and the stakes are higher than ever before. With sponsors throwing around real money and gamers rising to superstar status thanks to YouTube, it was only a matter of time until a scandal broke, and that's exactly what happened to Tfue. Who is Tfue?
1. The Lawsuit
TFue, known legally as Turner Tenney, is a 21-year-old professional esports player. He recently ignited a fire of controversy within the sport when he filed a groundbreaking lawsuit. Tfue has accused FaZe Clan, the organization he plays under, of "severely limiting his ability to compete in the marketplace. According to Turner, FaZe Clan currently has him locked into a contract where they can take up to 80% of the money he earns. Turner says that he signed a contract called a "Gamer Agreement" with FaZe Clan when he was 20-years-old. He says that the contract is “grossly oppressive, onerous, and one-sided.” He's not pulling any punches, is he? Would you blame him? Esports is highly competitive and can be very lucrative. If his claims are true, then the FaZe Clan is acting as a legitimate agency without the right to do so.
2. Fornite Champion
Turner's bread and butter comes from playing Fortnite. If you want to see how good he is all you have to do is hit up YouTube and check out his channel. This year he made it as far as six weeks into the Fortnite World Cup Duos event but lost to Tyler "Ninja" Blevins. This is all real stuff that people take very, very seriously and this delights me. Moving on. Although he had a win tally of 1,185 games during the Duos qualifier, the loss to Ninja meant that he would not be participating in the Finals, which are held in July in New York City this year. So was it a coincidence that the day he lost was also the day he filed the suit, or was it simple bitterness? Only he knows for sure.
3. His Reach
As you know, the internet has made it easier than ever before for people with unique skill sets to find their audiences and garner just a little bit of fame. As a gifted gamer, Tfue has quickly amassed a following in the millions, and that's just on the live streaming platform Twitch. His six million followers on Twitch don't even come close to the numbers on his YouTube channel! Suffice to say, that when it comes to the esports industry, Turner is a guy who is a known entity, a successful player with an impressive reach. That's partly why a lawsuit like this could have such major ramifications in the industry as a whole.
4. His GF
While esports might not be the first career you think of when you think "celebrity sex symbol" the truth of the matter is that egaming isn't what it was when the first Atari game launched. The people who play professionally have serious endorsement deals, some of which rival even NBA and NFL players. If you doubt the true star power here, you don't need to look any further than who Turner is dating: the model and Instagram influencer, Corrina Kopf. I don't know a lot about her but I do know that she has roughly two million more followers than I do, is gorgeous and seems to be smitten with the adult man who plays video games for a living. So there you go.
5. FaZe Speaks
Hollywood Life, who originally reported on this story, did the dirty work of reaching out to all parties involved, including FaZe Clan. When they contacted the group to discuss the allegations Turner was making against them, their rep replied with a cursory expression of sadness, before dropping some stone cold numbers. “We’re shocked and disappointed to see the news of Tfue’s press article and lawsuit. Over the course of our partnership with him, which began in April 2018, FaZe Clan has collected: $0 – Tournament Winnings, $0 – Twitch Revenue, $0 – YouTube Revenue, $0 – from any social platform.” If this is true, that's just more proof of sour grapes from an adult man known as Tfue.
Rebecca Jane Stokes is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York with her cats, Batman and Margot. She's an experienced generalist with a passion for lifestyle, geek news, pop culture, and true crime. For more of her work, check out her Tumblr.