On Thursday, November 11, Twitter user @step_nie published a statement via Medium, claiming Riot Games had created Seraphine in her likeness. Seraphine is the most recent League of Legends champion released by Riot in 2020, and is the first to have an entire online persona that lives through a Twitter account, @seradotwav. 

In her claim, @step_nie explained her situation, citing multiple reasons she believed Riot had drawn inspiration from her directly. Among those citations were similar background, similar pictures, similar artwork, and messages sent between her and a Rioter who hinted at an idea for an Ahri skin based on @step_nie. She was in a brief relationship with that Rioter, and he claimed he has some control over design.

In her statement, @step_nie also announced that she hired a lawyer and is "seriously considering legal action" with Riot Games. Riot released the following statement to Inven Global reporter, Tim Rizzo, acknowledging the accusation and claiming it as false.

"Seraphine was independently created by Riot Games and was not based on any individual, including Ms. *****. Additionally, the former employee Ms. ***** is referring to left Riot more than a year ago and was in a department and role that has no input whatsoever into the creative design process. We take all claims of misappropriation seriously and immediately investigated Ms. ***** allegations after receiving a legal demand letter from her attorney last month. We confirmed that her claim of being the basis for Seraphine lacks merit, communicated this to her attorney, and invited him to further discuss the facts with us. we are still waiting for a response."

However, the claim made in their statement is partially incorrect due to Seraphine designer, Jeevun  "Jag" Sidhu, pronouncing his partner as inspiration last month. 

We have reached out to @step_nie for comment and will update this story upon acquiring further information.

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