US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez roasts crypto bros for scrub-tier League of Legends play

A headshot of US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
(Image credit: ocasiocortez.com)

We live in a polarised era. The political divides that keep us separated have never seemed so impermeable. Brother wars against brother, parent against child, spouse against spouse. But even in these dark times, one thing remains to unite us: Looking down our nose at crypto bros and people ranked lower than us in online multiplayer PvP battle arenas. So long as we have this, the centre will hold.

No one knows this better than US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). The representative for New York's 14th Congressional District and—more importantly—Silver III ranked League of Legends player, killed two birds with one stone recently in a tweet dunking on both the people behind the spectacular blow-up of the FTX crypto exchange and everyone worse than her at LoL.

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AOC was responding to a series of tweets recalling how FTX's venture capitalist investors were impressed that its CEO and founder, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF, because I guess we're all initialisms now), was a League of Legends fan who would play the game during phone calls and meetings. 

Plenty of people pointed out that SBF's Bronze III LoL ranking wasn't much to be proud of (nearly 85% of ranked soloqueue players are placed higher at time of writing), with even the crusty old finance and business daily The Financial Times making fun of his LoL play. When people pointed all this out to AOC, she was quick to get in on the gag.

AOC isn't the only videogame fan in the US congress. The recent midterm elections saw the first (on record) Kingdom Hearts fan elevated to the legislature, a move which was unfathomably not proscribed by the US Constitution. Still, unlike America's new, Goofy-loving legislator, AOC at least has the right attitude about her LoL habit. When someone tweeted at her that they "used to respect [her] but playing League is too far," AOC had one thing to say in response: "Understandable".

Joshua Wolens
News Writer

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.